The Iron Sole Alchemist in the Benders' World
by Howlin the Werewolf
Summary: Easing back into exploring new worlds, Sloth, Greed, and Loki come to a world where humans have the power to manipulate the four classical elements and inhuman spirits dwell in a nearby plane. Having arrived in time for a great cosmic battle, their presence will tip the balance of power for good or ill.
1. Chapter 1: Where Are We Now?

The Iron Sole Alchemist in the Benders' World (Chapter 1) Where Are We Now?  
by Howlin  
(Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to any of the universes, places, or characters, and only claim the protagonist, Sloth, and Loki as my own creation. This is fan fiction, and I don't profit from it. Please don't sue me.)

* * *

Note:  
This story is an immediate sequel to The Iron Sole Alchemist and the Magical Girls, which is part of a series of stories. Those stories introduce characters, events, and concepts. You may not understand everything if you have not read the previous stories.

* * *

A circle of blue light drew itself on a smooth patch of ice, filling in the details of a complex transmutation circle almost as fast as the circle itself appeared. Once it was complete, the glowing structure raised into the air, depositing myself, my wife Sloth, and our dog Loki on the ice before vanishing.

"This is not what I pictured for our vacation trip," said Sloth, speaking loudly to be heard over the howling wind.

We'd arrived in a large, high ceilinged ice cave. Thick tree trunks were frozen inside the cave's walls, like this place had once been a forest before freezing over. There was a storm outside, and from the sound of it, we were lucky for the shelter.

Sloth focused for a moment, and her short, sleeveless black dress was replaced with boots, snow pants, a fur lined coat with a hood, and a pair of mittens. My open vest wasn't any better suited to the cold weather than her dress had been, but I had other priorities. I could feel the presence of spiritual beings surrounding us. Their energies felt dark like those of a hollow.

Loki felt them too and growled low in his chest. With his hackles raised, Loki's body flared with brilliant blue alchemic light as the transmutation circle tattooed under his fur transformed him. The floppy eared brown dog became a three hundred pound, heavily muscled chimera with green scales covering most of his body, a gold, leonine mane, a thick, club like tail, and fangs and claws that could slice through stone.

As Loki transformed, the creatures attacked. There were a dozen snakelike creatures with glowing purple auras. They were fast, but I was much, much faster. An act of will caused a katana to appear on my belt. I drew the weapon and sliced each of the snake creatures in half faster than the eye could see. I slid the katana back into its sheath and willed it to vanish again as the peculiar spirits dissolved into motes of light and vanished entirely.

"What were those?" asked Sloth as Loki transformed back into a dog.

"Spirits of some sort," I said. "It felt like they were corrupted somehow. The zanpakto purified them just like if they were hollows, then they crossed over somewhere."

"Too bad they just attacked us," said Sloth. "We could use some help figuring out where we are."

"Yeah," I acknowledged, willing a heavy winter coat of my own to appear on me.

The three of us picked our way through the ice cave until we could see open sky. There was a heavy blizzard blowing snow around and limiting visibility. What we managed to glimpse through the occasional gaps in the snow showed us only icy tundra in all directions as far as the eye could seen. I could sense the presence of more dark spirits in the distance.

"Did we end up in a world with no humans, or are we just miles from civilization?" asked Sloth.

"I don't know," I admitted. "Hold on. Let me try something."

I took a glass eye and a brass telescope out of my utility belt. Clapping my hands, I fused the two objects with a burst of blue alchemic light. The eye itself was completely intact, but the telescope had been heavily modified to accommodate the eye being mounted at the far end.

I looked through the telescope. The enchantments on the false eye allowed it to see through illusions and invisibility. More important to what I Was doing at the moment, it could also see through solid matter. I used it to filter out the storm and gaze into the distance.

"We're at the south pole," I reported after getting a look at the stars. "I'm not seeing any settlements for miles in any direction."

Sloth stared into the swirling snow for a long moment before pointing and saying, "That way. The snow made a shape like a candle flame for just an instant. If we don't have anything more solid to go on, I think following the omens is our best bet."

"Sounds fair to me," I said, and we struck out into the storm.

* * *

We hiked through the frozen tundra for two days. We had plenty of food and the ability to magically multiply what food we did have so it would never run out. Alchemy allowed us to turn the plentiful ice into igloo style structures to sleep in whenever any of us got tired. Between our heavy clothing, alchemy used to ensure our food and drinks were hot when we consumed them, and general purpose fire charms, none of us was suffering from the cold.

I sensed the presence of humans before we caught sight of the lights of a city in the distance. Most were spiritually unremarkable, but I could detect a handful of people with useful levels of spirit energy. As we approached, I sensed the arrival of a dark spirit at the outskirts of the city.

I rushed to where I felt the spirit, Sloth and Loki trailing behind me. The spirit, this one slightly more humanoid, was fighting with a group of humans. One man punched in the spirit's direction and a blast of fire shot from his fist and impacted the spirit. A second man gestured and caused a wall of stone to rise up out of the ground to try and contain the spirit. The spirit, for its part, was attacking physically, grabbing up humans and tossing them around like rag dolls.

I entered the scene as the spirit was about to attack a man in red and yellow robes who was trying to calm it down and reason with it. My flash step brought be behind the spirit in the blink of an eye, where I stood in midair on footholds of compressed spirit energy. I willed my zanpakto to appear, then drew the sword, cutting through the back of the spirit's neck in a single motion. I resheathed my zanpakto and willed the spiritual weapon to once again disappear inside my body, then I hopped down to the ground. The spirit's corrupted purple aura vanished thanks to the purifying power of my zanpakto and it dissolved back into whatever world it belonged in as motes of golden light.

"Is anybody hurt?" I asked the people who'd been fighting the dark spirit just as Sloth and Loki arrived.

"I'm okay," said the one I'd seen tossed. He was bruised and battered, but not in need of medical treatment.

"How did you kill that dark spirit?" asked a blue eyed, dark haired young woman dressed in blue. "Our bending attacks didn't seem to be doing anything to it."

"Spirits can't be killed, Korra," said the man in the red and yellow robes. "At least, not ordinarily."

"I didn't kill it," I said. "The weapon I used is called a zanpakto. It's a tool with the power to purify spiritual beings, cleanse them of corruption,a nd send them on to the realm they belong in. Though, admittedly, I've never seen corruption quite like that before."

"It was lucky you came by when you did," said a broad shouldered man dressed in blue. "I am Tanraq, leader of the Southern Water Tribe, and I would be honored if you would stay the night with me and my family."

"My name is Greed," I said. "This is my wife Sloth, and our dog Loki."

"Aren't you a little young to get married?" asked one of the young men.

"No," said Sloth. "I'm an ageless shape shifter." She transformed briefly into him to prove her point before resuming her usual form of a four year old girl with blue eyes and brown hair. "I look like this because I like looking like this."

"Are you spirits?" asked Korra, boggling slightly at the display.

"No," I said. "We're not exactly human either. We'll be happy to explain when we're all out of the cold. We've been hiking through the tundra for two days and could use a rest somewhere civilized."

"Of course," said Tanraq. "This way."

He led us into a large house nearby. Everyone from outside joined us. A fire was lit so everyone could warm themselves.

"Thank you," I said, sitting down at a table. "We're explorers. We've visited half a dozen worlds, and usually we arrive somewhere civilized. This is the first time we've arrived int he middle of a frozen wasteland days away from civilization."

"Where exactly are you from?" asked the young man I'd seen shooting fire at the spirit.

"I didn't catch your name," I said.

"My name's Mako. This is my brother Bolin," he said, indicating the other young man I'd seen raise a wall of stone.

"Mako," I said, nodding. "I'm from a small desert town called Liore. It's on the eastern border of Amestris, a country in our home world. Sloth and Loki are from a different part of Amestris."

"Is that where you learned about spirits?" asked Korra.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "Sloth and I have been studying the magic and science of the various worlds we visit. While we've never run into spirits quite like those, the last world we explored had a kind of corrupted ghosts called hollows. The zanpakto was invented there as a way to purify hollows and send them on to the afterlife."

"We're happy to tell you more and answer any questions you may have, but can you tell us a little about the world we just landed in?" asked Sloth.

The world we'd arrived in was divided between the Norther and Southern Water Tribes at the frozen poles, the Earth Kingdom on a large continent in the east, and the Fire Nation occupying a large island chain in the west. A handful of air temples were hidden away in the mountains across the world where they served as home to the nearly extinct Air Nomads. These were collectively known as the four great nations. Recently, a territory carved out of disputed land between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation called the United Republic had gained independence.

The four great nations were unified internally and divided between them by an ability called bending. A percentage of the population of each nation was born with the ability to manipulate the element associated with their nation. As a melting pot, the United Republic possessed earth, water, and fire benders.

Despite mixed heritage resulting in brothers like Mako and Bolin, it was an iron clad rule that a person could be born with the ability to bend, at most, one element. The sole exception to this rule was the Avatar. The Avatar was a reincarnating hero with the potential to master all four elements. Each time the old Avatar died, the new one would be born into the next nation in the cycle: Earth, Fire, Air, Water. Korra, in addition to being Tanraq's daughter, was the Avatar of this generation.

Korra's predecessor, Avatar Aang, had been the sole survivor of the Air Nomad genocide, perpetrated by the Fire Nation. Tenzin was Aang's son. Aside from the Avatar, Tenzin and his children were the only air benders on the planet, and Tenzin himself was the only true master of the art. The air temples were currently occupied by non bender immigrants from the Earth Kingdom called Air Acolytes who cared deeply about the culture and were dedicated to keeping alive what traditions they could.

"I hate to be rude," said Mako after Tenzin finished explaining the situation of the Air Nomads, "but we still have questions for you. You said you aren't human and you aren't spirits. What exactly are you?"

"We're homunculi," said Sloth. "Artificial humans created using alchemy. Greed was born human and transferred his soul into a homunculus body. I was never human."

"What does being a homunculus mean?" asked Korra.

"Mostly it means we don't age, we have superhuman strength and speed, and we can regenerate any injury," I explained. "Our bodies are more alchemically malleable than a human's, letting us do things like shape shifting."

"That sounds like a pretty sweet deal," said Bolin.

"I thought so too," I said, nodding.

"Is this the part where we find out there's some horrible catch like you need to feed on the blood of the living or you're burned by the light of the sun?" asked Bolin.

"Nope," I said. "We require red stones to fuel our superhuman abilities that can be made from living humans, but there's a purely chemical alternative. And even without any red stones, we're just reduced to human levels of ability. The only real downside is that the conversion process is really painful."

"How painful?" asked Bolin.

"Imagine you've been skinned alive, all your organs have been dumped in a pile, your muscles and bones are all torn and dislocated," I said. "It's something a human would just die in agony from. That's what a homunculus is like when it's born. On the plus side, after living through that, there's not a lot left that'll phase you."

"When you say these stones can be derived from living humans..." began Mako.

"For a long time, that was the only way anyone knew how to make them," I said. "The method for creating red stones without killing people was recently developed by a pair of brilliant alchemists named Russel and Fletcher Tringam."

"You mention alchemy a lot," noted Korra. "What exactly is that?"

"Alchemy is the science of understanding matter, breaking it down into its component parts, and rebuilding it as something new," I explained. "Maybe you have a different term for it. Who made your pet?"

Looking at her massive, white furred pet with features of a dog and a polar bear, Korra asked, "You mean Naga? Who 'made' her?"

I nodded. "I'm a proud bio alchemist myself. You don't get to the point of making a homunculus body without some grounding there. Loki may not look it right now, but he's actually an advanced, military grade chimera. As for Naga, whoever put her together did really impressive work."

Sloth nodded. "I couldn't have blended the animals that smoothly."

"Naga isn't anyone's creation," said Korra incredulously. "I raised her as a pup after she was born with a litter of other polar bear dogs."

"So what's Loki made of?" asked Bolin hesitantly.

"He's got dog, lion, and crocodile in him," I said absentmindedly. "Polar bear dogs are just a normal animal in this world?"

"Well sure," said Korra. "Just like otter penguins, turtle ducks, and platypus bears."

"This world is weird," deadpanned Sloth.

"Can we talk about the dark spirits?" asked Tanraq. "They've shown up only very recently. Most of them have been attacking boats at sea. This was the first one to come into the city itself. I'm worried more will come and we'll have to defend ourselves again."

I manifested my zanpakto an placed it on the table. Korra was the only one in the room with spirit energy, so she was the only one who saw the sword. To everyone else, I'd just made an odd miming gesture.

"A zanpakto is a symbiotic weapon," I said. "I can provide blanks, but they'll need to bond with the souls of their wielders. There are currently about three people in the city who have enough spirit energy to bond with a zanpakto. Korra's one of them. I have the technology to infuse other people with spirit energy safely, at which point, they'll be able to bond with a zanpakto."

"Of course, granting large numbers of people spirit energy has social and international consequences you'd need to be ready to manage," Sloth pointed out. "The powers they'd develop could be used against their fellow humans just as easily as they could be used against spirits."

"And we could end up with the Equalist problem all over again," said Korra. "You said there were three people in the city who could bond with a zanpakto. Can you arm those three and let us think about the next step?"

"Sure," I said, carefully snapping three chips off the blade of my zanpakto. "What was the Equalist problem?" I asked as I gripped the hilt of my sword and channeled spirit energy into the weapon to regenerate the damage.

"A few months ago, an organization of non benders took over Republic City," said Korra. "They believed benders were abusing their power and oppressing them."

Returning my regenerated sword to its sheath, I willed it to vanish back inside my body. "Were they?"

"Some of them were," said Korra, "but their actions just made the situation worse. Their leader, Amon, was secretly a blood bender, and found a way to take away a person's bending permanently. In response, the council cracked down hard, which drove more non benders over to the Equalists' side, which made the council more nervous. It was a complete mess."

I created a glowing, orange cube shaped barrier on the table, covering the three chips I'd broken off my sword. Under the light of the barrier, the three chips each began growing into new swords. "What happened next?"

"The short version is I defeated Amon, exposed him as a water bender, discredited him among his followers and he hasn't resurfaced to cause trouble again," said Korra. "Afterward, I made contact with my past lives and Aang taught me energy bending. I used it to restore the bending of the people Amon had taken it from. The council was disbanded and a new president was elected to deal with the underlying issues that led to the Equalists in the first place."

"I have a question," I said, maintaining the space time reversion kido I was using to produce the blank zanpaktos. "Why aren't there more air benders?"

"What do you mean?" asked Tenzin. "My father Aang was the only air bender to survive the Fire Nation genocide. I'm the youngest of three siblings, and the only one who inherited my father's air bending abilities. Pemma and I have been fortunate that all of our children have been air benders. Not that we'd love them any less if they weren't."

"I mean, why did your father need to have children at all for there to be more air benders?" I said. "If you can use energy bending to make people benders, why not use it to grant the Air Acolytes air bending?"

"Would that work?" asked Mako.

"I... don't know," said Korra. "I've only ever used it to restore bending to people who already had it. It never occurred to me to try turning non benders into benders."

"I see your game here," said Bolin. "You don't have bending where you come from and you want Korra to make you a bender."

"Well... yeah," I said. "Why wouldn't I want bending?"

Raising his finger, Bolin opened his mouth, paused, then closed it. "I... can't think of a response to that."

"If it's possible, I'd like the full Avatar package with all four elements," I said, handing Korra one of the three finished blank zanpaktos. "You'll want to keep that with you at all times. Eventually, a piece of your soul will imprint on it and you can start developing a relationship with it."

"What do you mean a relationship?" asked Korra hesitantly.

"A zanpakto is a person," I said. "When you learn its name, you gain access to a portion of its power. As your relationship deepens, both of you are strengthened."

"How do you talk to a sword?" asked Korra.

"It's still a piece of your soul, so meditation and introspection will let you communicate with that part of you," I explained.

"Great... more meditation," sighed Korra.

"Tools or no, there are no shortcuts to spiritual development," said Tenzin in the voice of a long suffering teacher.

"Look, I don't know if it's safe for you to have more than one kind of bending," said Korra, getting up and heading around the table to me.

"I'm willing to take the risk," I said. "My body, mind, and soul are all pretty resilient, so if something goes wrong, you should have enough warning to reverse it."

"Even so, let's do this one at a time. I've never granted bending to a non bender at all before. Which element did you want to start with?"

"Air," I said. "It sounds like that's the art in greatest danger of dying out."

Korra nodded and placed one thumb on my chest and the other on my forehead. Her eyes glowed with a brilliant white light, a sign that her soul was being dangerously overclocked. I had spiritual weapons that could trigger that effect, and I saved them as absolute last resorts due to the risks involved.

I could feel Korra's soul reach into mine. Suppressing a reflexive impulse to push her away, I let her do her work. When the glow faded and she removed her hands, I took inventory and found nothing immediately wrong with myself."

"Did it work?" asked Korra.

"Try this," suggested Tenzin, making a gesture and sending a gust of wind out the door.

I copied his movement and a blast of air tore the door from its hinges and dug a furrow into the bare rock under the glacial ice. Eyes were wide and jaws hung open at the display. Embarrassed, I took a pair of metal bracers from my utility belt and clamped them on my wrists. Repeating the gesture resulted in a weak puff of air. While I sorted myself out, Sloth repaired the door with a quick transmutation, using a red stone to generate new mass due to the old door being miles away by now.

"What was that?" asked Tenzin, the first to recover his power of speech.

"Some of the things I use to be superhumanly strong and powerful must enhance bending too. These bracers suppress those abilities, bringing my strength down to normal human levels. I use them for training."

"What bracers?" asked Mako, examining my wrists.

"There's a visual barrier on them," I explained. "Only people with spirit energy can see them, just like the zanpaktos."

"Are you sure you want to try a second element?" asked Korra.

I nodded and we repeated the process. I felt no worse for wear and could now bend air and water. Next came earth, then finally fire, with no sign my body or soul was under any particular strain.

"I'm surprised no one came to investigate that wind blast," said Sloth.

"They probably thought that was me," said Korra embarrassed. "Dad, Tenzin, and I have been arguing a lot lately."

"No point bringing those hurt feelings back to the surface," I said. "Good news is the energy bending worked just fine."

"Ooh, do me next," said Bolin, raising his hand and waving it.

Korra shrugged and touched the young earth bender's forehead and chest. When her eyes stopped glowing and she took a step back, Bolin glanced around. Suddenly, he clutched his chest, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed, foaming at the mouth. To my spiritual senses, I felt a brief spike in his soul's spirit energy before his soul lost integrity and popped like a balloon. Korra looked horrified.

"It's okay," said Sloth quickly. Opening her hand, the silver ring on her finger transformed into a crimson, egg shaped crystal wrapped in elaborate gold wire work. A pulse of crimson light put Bolin's soul back together, purging the unstable energy that triggered the collapse in the first place. Then Sloth closed her hand and the crystal turned back into a ring.

Bolin sat up, gasping and said, "Okay, now we know why most people only get one element."

"Bolin, I'm so sorry," began Korra.

"No, no," Bolin waved her off. "I let me eagerness for cool new powers get in the way of safety. But seriously, why did that work for you and not me?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say because my soul's very different from yours," I said. "I have three different symbiotic spirit beings living inside me that help regulate my powers. I imagine they're taking some of the strain off."

"This should still be safe to use to empower the Air Acolytes," said Tenzin happily. "We were already planning a trip to visit all the air temples. You can grant air bending as we go."

"Tenzin, the south pole is under attack by dark spirits," said Korra. "I can't just leave. As the Avatar, I have a duty to help fix this."

"You won't be any help until you've improved your spiritual abilities, which is what this visit to the air temples is all about," argued Tenzin.

"You can go if you want, but I'm staying," said Korra stubbornly. "Ulanaq already offered to teach me what I need to know about spirits."

"Look, this really isn't any of our business," I said, gathering up the two blank swords. "Why don't we go deliver these while you talk amongst yourselves."

I slipped out with Sloth and Loki following close behind. Raised voices from the house we'd left tole me we got out just in time. After we'd walked a short distance in silence under the bright moon and stars, Sloth veered suddenly off the path and down a dead end alley.

"What's up?" I asked her.

"I was reading Korra's mind when she was energy bending you," said Sloth. "I know exactly what she was doing and how it felt from her prospective."

Sloth took a fingerless glove out of her utility belt and pressed it to her chest. The supernatural tool separated her homunculus body from her reigai, the artificial spiritual body animated by her Soul Gem. Reigai Sloth was invisible and inaudible except to people with spirit energy like me. Even her homunculus self couldn't see her reigai.

"Here's what I'm thinking," said homunculus Sloth, taking out a soul coin. "I'll put this blank soul in and you work with the other me to make me a bender."

"Okay," I said.

She pressed the coin to the oroboros mark on her shoulder blade, loading the blank soul in a burst of red alchemic light. Her reigai self passed on the process telepathically and I touched the two points on Sloth that Korra had touched on me. I pressed into her soul, made the change and backed off, breaking physical contact.

With a gesture, Sloth generated a puff of wind with air bending. She removed the soul and put it back in. After that, she tried a few times but was unable to air bend again.

"Looks like the process we use to blank them clears out any bending ability," noted Sloth, removing the soul and merging with her reigai self again. "Since you can energy bend, we can experiment more later."

* * *

"Tenzin, is that you?" asked the woman who answered the door I'd led us to. She had brown hair and was dressed in yellow and tan robes. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you might be my husband."

"You're Tenzin's wife?" I confirmed.

"Do you know my husband? Has something happened to him?"

"He's fine," I hastened to clarify. "There was an incident involving a dark spirit. No one was hurt and the spirit's gone back to the spirit world, but he ended up staying to talk to Korra about it."

"Well, thank you for letting me know," said Pemma.

"Wait," I said as she went to close the door. "We aren't actually here to relay a message from Tenzin. That was just a coincidence. We've brought a weapon that can help against future attacks by dark spirits. There's someone in the house who can learn to wield it. Tenzin knows the details and can explain when everone wakes up."

"What's this weapon and who's supposed to use it?" asked Pemma.

I took her hand and pressed the sheathed zanpakto into it, surprising her. "The weapon is invisible to most people. The person who can see it when they wake up is the one meant to wield it."

"I'll... be sure to talk to Tenzin about this when he gets home," said Pemma, taking the sword she could feel but couldn't see and closing the door.

* * *

Our last stop before returning to Tonraq's house and hoping the argument was over by then turned out to be a large, elaborately decorated ship. A pair of guards holding pole arms blocked the way aboard.

"What is your business on Chief Ulanaq's vessel?" asked the guard.

"Ulanaq?" I asked. "I thought Tanraq was the chief."

The guards looked at one another, then the one who spoke before said, "Tanraq is well respected in the Southern Water Tribe, but Ulanaq is the Chief of the Water Tribes. Who are you and why are you here?"

"My name is Greed. This is Sloth and Loki," I said, gesturing to them. "Dark spirits have attacked the city. There is someone aboard with the power to help fight them off. I'm bringing a weapon for that person to use."

"I don't see any weapon," said the guard.

I drew the blank zanpakto from its sheath and cut the head of his polearm off with the sword he couldn't see. That got their attention.

"Come with us."

I directed the guards where we needed to go. Ultimately, they knocked on a door I indicated.

"Yes?" came a voice from inside.

"Chief Ulanaq, there are some people here I think you'll want to speak with," said the guard.

Ulanaq opened the door. He was a tall, thin faced man, dressed in blue fur robes and with long dark hair. He had a great deal of spirit energy, and it had the feeling of something he'd purposefully cultivated.

"This is the man 'm here to see," I told the guards. "Chief Ulanaq, I've come to give you a weapon to help you defend the people of this city against dark spirits."

"Where did you get this?" asked Ulanaq, accepting the offered sword. "I've never felt anything quite like what I feel from this sword."

"It comes from another world and had the power to purify dark spirits and return them to their world," I explained.

"Who are you?" asked Ulanaq.

"Sloth, Greed, Loki," I said, gesturing. "If you'll excuse us, it's very late. I expect you'll want to get some sleep and I know I do. If you want to talk more in the morning, Avatar Korra knows where to find us. We just wanted to drop off the weapon as soon as possible in case of another dark spirit attack."

"Of course. Sleep well," said Ulanaq, staring at his new zanpakto.

* * *

Tonraq's house on the edge of the city was silent when we arrived back. Most of the others had gone. Only Tonraq and his wife were still there. She'd gone to bed, but he'd waited up for us.

"How'd it go?" asked Sloth.

"Korra's decided Tenzin is no longer her teacher," said Tanraq. "She's decided to study the spiritual practices of the water tribes under my brother Ulanaq while she seeks a way to calm the dark spirits."

"You don't sound happy," I noted.

"I think Korra's making a mistake," said Tanraq with a sigh, "but who her teachers are is Korra's decision."

"I hope it's nothing we said," said Sloth.

"No, this is something that's been building for some time," said Tanraq. "I'm sorry you had to arrive in the middle of it."

I yawned and stretched saying, "Hopefully everyone's tempers will have cooled off after a good night's rest."

Tanraq showed us to a guest room. It had a bed covered in heavy fur blankets. After turning out the lights, Sloth and I climbed under the covers, snuggled together, and closed our eyes. Loki climbed up on the foot of the bed and curled up at our feet. After two days hiking through the tundra, a warm bed was just what I needed.

* * *

Author's comments:  
Acquiring bending is the easy part. Mastering it to the point it's more a help than a hindrance will be a far greater challenge.


	2. Chapter 2: Air Bending

The Iron Sole Alchemist in the Benders' World (Chapter 2) Air Bending  
by Howlin  
(Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to any of the universes, places, or characters, and only claim the protagonist, Sloth, and Loki as my own creation. This is fan fiction, and I don't profit from it. Please don't sue me.)

* * *

The next morning, I woke to the smell of cooing. I kissed Sloth who was still dozing next to me and she stirred.

"Smells like breakfast is cooking," I said. "Shall we see what our hosts have made?"

"Sounds good," said Sloth, stretching and climbing out of bed.

We stepped out into the main dining room. A cooking pot filled with noodles, some sort of greens, thin strips of meat, and eggs was boiling on the stove while Tanrag and his wife set the table.

"You're up," said Tanraq. "How did you sleep?"

"Most comfortable bed I've had in days," I joked. "Like I said, we usually arrive someplace civilized, so we didn't pack camping gear."

"Something to keep in mind for next time," noted Sloth.

"We managed to rig some sleeping bags with what we were carrying, and it wasn't hard to make a shelter from the snow and ice, but it wasn't very comfortable."

"Most people who go out there without supplies doesn't come back," noted Tanraq.

"Come. Sit down. It looks like breakfast is ready," said Tanraq's wife.

The food was different from what I'd had before, but it was quite good. I made sure to get the recipe, both for my own later use and to share with my friends in other worlds after we left this one.

"Tenzin stopped by while you were asleep," said Tanraq as we slurped down our noodles. "He wants to talk to you about those spirit weapons."

"We'll go see him first thing," I said.

"I want to thank you for your efforts on our behalf," said Tanraq. "You are welcome in our home any time."

"Thank you," I said.

"We're honored," Sloth added, inclining her head.

* * *

As Sloth, Loki, and I approached the house Tenzin was staying at, we noticed a massive creature we'd mistaken for part of the house in the dark the previous night. It was enormous, the size of a small house. Light colored fur covered its body from its round head to its flat, beaver like tail. It had six legs and a pair of curved horns. A set of grey, arrow shaped markings brought to mind the blue, arrow shaped tattoos on the back of Tenzin's hands and his shaved head. The creature was saddled, thought he saddle looked like it could hold a large family rather than a single rider.

I knocked on the door, and it was answered by a slightly pudgy, grey haired man with a beard. "Hello?"

"Tenzin wanted to see us," I said. "Is he in?"

"Oh, sure. Tenzin! It's for you!" he called back into the house.

The air bending master came up to the door, rubbing hsi ear. "Thank you, Bumi. You!"

"Us?" I asked.

"Them?" asked Bumi, seemingly to avoid feeling left out.

"You didn't mention one of the three people you were talking about was my daughter, Jinora," said Tenzin.

"Tenin, aren't you going to invite our guests in?" asked an elderly woman who was bouncing a young boy with a shaved head and loose yellow clothes on her knee.

"Yes, mother," said Tenzin, stepping aside. Sloth and I entered with Loki trotting behind.

"Everyone, this is Greed and Sloth, the travelers I mentioned," introduced Tenzin. "This is my mother, Katara. My sister Kaya," he indicated a fit, middle aged woman with grey hair. "You've already met my brother Bumi and my wife Pemma. These are our children. Rohan," he indicated an infant boy in Pemma's arms. "Meelo," he pointed at the boy on Katara's knee. "Ikki," he indicated an eight year old girl with her hair done up in two buns. "And Jinora," he put his hands on the shoulders of a worried looking eleven year old girl with a single bun of hair clutching the zanpakto we'd delivered the previous night.

"What does this mean?" asked Jinora.

"Oh, come on," said Ikki. "A mysterious traveler giving you a magic sword means you go on an adventure, slay horrible monsters, fall in love with a prince, and go live in an enchanted castle."

"Not quite," I said, bursting Ikki's bubble. "You don't need to do anything with it right away. Just keep it close to you, and eventually you'll be able to hear its voice. In the meantime, I can teach you how to use it if you want."

"What's it for, and why am I the only one who can see it?" asked Jinora.

"It's a spiritual weapon called a zanpakto," I said. "It's for fighting dark spirits. Any of them struck down by a zanpakto turns back into a normal spirit and returns to the spirit world. As for why they can't see it, that's because only people with spirit energy can."

"No fair," whined Ikki. "Why does Jinora have spirit energy and I don't?"

"Yeah," added Meelo.

"It isn't fair," I agreed. "Just like it isn't fair that some people are born with bending and some aren't."

"It's okay," said Bumi, hugging Ikki and Meelo. "I wasn't born a bender, and I've traveled the world, fought pirates, and gone on all sorts of adventures."

"And you're going to be okay too, Jinora," said Tenzin flashing a grateful look to his brother. "No one's going to make you do anything you don't want to do. If you don't want to learn to fight dark spirits, you don't have to."

"If you don't want it, we can dispose of it for you," said Sloth. "There's nothing wrong with turning it down. I had the chance and decided it wasn't for me."

"And what happens if I decide to keep it?" asked Jinora.

"We'll support you whatever you decide to do," said Pemma.

"Gran-gran, what do you think?" asked Jinora.

"I think you might come to regret it if you turn down the opportunity," said Katara. "Chances like this don't come along often."

Jinora nodded. "Thanks, gran-gran. I don't want to throw it away. I just want to know what's going to happen if I keep it."

"At first, it'll just be a sword," I said. "Over time, it'll absorb some of your spirit energy, developing a personality and unique powers. There's no way to tell what it will eventually become, but as a being born of your soul, it will be perfect for you. Mastering it is an exercise in self knowledge and takes most people many years."

"I think I can do that," said Jinora, nodding. "Thank you."

"Tenzin," I said, taking him aside, "the trip you were planning to the air temples, with Korra not coming, were you still planning to go?"

"Yes," said Tenzin. "Korra may not be coming, but this is a chance to spend some time with my family. Why?"

"Because I copied Korra's energy bending technique," I said. "If you'll have us along, I can grant the Air Acolytes air bending."

"How did you just copy something like that?" asked Tenzin.

"Sloth was reading Korra's mind at the instant she used it on me, to make sure I was safe. Between us, we worked out how to do it."

"I... Of course you're welcome to come," said Tenzin. "You would've been welcome even without this. I'm sure Jinora will have a lot of questions. But I assumed you'd want to stay and help with the spirit problem."

"I wouldn't be much use," I admitted. "My knowledge of local spirits and spiritual phenomenon is nonexistent, and I can't use my spiritual powers safely."

"Why not?" asked Tenzin.

"Because I got greedy," I said with a small smile. "Remember that first gust of wind? The only reason I'm not causing hurricanes or fire storms with every gesture is because I put on a pair of bracers that completely suppress my spirit energy. I'm going to need to wear them until I can get a grip on my new bending abilities."

"I see," said Tenzin. "I would be honored to teach you everything I know. About the spirits. About air bending. About this world."

* * *

The large creature outside was named Uggi. Uggi was a sky bison, a species with natural air bending abilities. Sloth, Loki, and I joined Tenzin and his family, minus Katara, on Uggi's back. Taking the reins, Tenzin called out, "Yip-yip," and Uggi levitated into the air, flapped his tail once, and flew off over the ocean.

"Bumi, Pemma," I said once we were at cruising altitude, "one of the reasons I'm coming on this trip is because I learned to duplicate Korra's energy bending technique. I'll be using it to grant air bending to the Air Acolytes at the temples we visit. Did either of you want to become benders?"

"You can do that?" asked Bumi. "All right. Show me."

I touched my thumbs to his forehead and chest, bending the energy in his body. When I withdrew my hands, Bumi looked at his. Then he thrust out his palms to no effect.

"I don't think it worked," said Bumi.

"It felt like it worked," I said, looking at my hands.

"You're doing it wrong, Uncle Bumi," said Ikki. "Like this." She made a circular gesture with two hands that produced a rotating burst of wind.

"Like this?" asked Bumi, mimicking her gesture. A similar burst of wind shot from his hands. He stared at them in awe.

"I knew that felt like it took hold," I said.

"I can air bend," said Bumi, still processing that fact.

"Pemma?" I asked.

She nodded. "Go ahead."

After I granted her air bending, I leaned back and settled in for the journey.

"You learned this from Korra?" asked Kaya.

"Korra learned it to counter Amon," said Tenzin. "It was only last night anyone even considered it might be useful for more than just restoring Amon's victims."

"I was her test subject," I said, repeating Ikki's movement and producing a burst of wind.

"And you learned it just like that?" asked Kaya.

"It was a little more complicated than that," said Sloth. "I read Korra's mind while she energy bent Greed and showed him exactly what to do."

"You can read minds?" asked Jinora. "What am I thinking right now?"

"You're thinking it's going to be weird teaching your mom and your uncle air bending," said Sloth.

"That was too easy," interrupted Ikki. "What number am I thinking of?"

"Five," said Sloth. Telepathically, she added, "My abilities are very real."

"Awesome," marveled the three air bender kids currently capable of speech.

* * *

The Southern Air Temple was a beautiful collection of towers, spires, and courtyards built on the peak of an isolated mountain. The temple was situated just above cloud level, and I could see clouds drifting lazily along nearby peaks and plateaus. Despite the elevation, it was still much warmer than the Southern Water Tribe capital city had been. Green grass and flowers were abundant along with small streams and waterfalls within easy walking distance of the temple.

As we'd approached warmer climates, Sloth and I had demonstrated our ability to alter our clothing with a thought as an extension of our more general shape shifting abilities. Everyone aboard Uggi had gotten their surprise out of the way well before Uggi landed in one of the courtyards. Sloth had returned to her short, sleeveless black dress and I'd switched back to my black open half vest, showing off the oroboros mark on Sloth's back and the center of my chest respectively.

The abbot responsible for taking care of the temple, an elderly Air Acolyte, warmly greeted Tenzin, Pemma, and their children. Sloth and I helped Kaya and Bumi with the luggage. The bracers meant I was limited to human levels of strength, so I wasn't as much help as I'd have liked to be, but Sloth was under no such limitation and got to amuse herself playing with the Air Acolytes' expectations by hopping nimbly down from Uggi with the heaviest, bulkiest items balanced in a stack in her arms.

Once Uggi was offloaded, Tenzin asked the abbot to gather the acolytes in the courtyard. His excitement and anticipation were infectious. There were a couple dozen Air Acolytes living in the temple, and it didn't take long for them to gather.

"I have a wonderful announcement to make," said Tenzin beaming. "You all know my brother Bumi." From the way the acolytes looked at each other confused, I guessed they didn't. Ignoring or missing that in his enthusiasm, Tenzin continued, "and my wife, Pemma." That got significantly more nods of recognition. "Both of them were born as non benders, just like all of you.

"A few days ago, during the Glacier Spirits Festival at the south pole, two travelers arrived from another world. Working together with Avatar Korra, they have rediscovered the secret to granting bending abilities to non benders."

On cue, Pemma and Bumi fired air blasts at the crowd who were stunned into silence. Tenzin's chest was puffed up with pride as he continued.

"Avatar Korra is currently busy with an urgent spiritual matter in the south, but the two travelers have graciously agreed to be our guests. Allow me to introduce Greed and Sloth, who have offered to grant air bending to each of the Air Acolytes."

A cheer welled up from the crowd that seemed too loud for their numbers. I smiled, grateful to be a part of this. One by one, Tenzin called them up. I used energy bending on each of them to grant them air bending. Everyone tried something to test their new powers, with a lot of them falling flat on their faces, giggling all the while. Finally, Tenzin spoke again.

"I'm sure you're all anxious to learn about your new abilities. We can begin formal air bending training first thing tomorrow morning. For tonight, your usual duties can wait. I'll escort our guests to their rooms myself."

* * *

Most of the living space in the temple consisted of gender segregated dormitories. There was a small amount of space set aside for married couples. Sloth and I were given a small room right next door to Tenzin and Pemma. After confirming where it was, Sloth and I headed back out to mingle with the newly empowered air benders. There was a mood of celebration as various new air benders approached us to offer their thanks. After the sun set, we took Loki and returned to our room.

Sloth sat down at the small desk that had been provided and started drawing something while I opened the window, breathed the cool night air, and listened as the sounds of revelry faded.

"You're planning something," said Sloth without looking up from her drawing.

"Of course I am," I said with a small smile. "I'll tell you all about it when I get back."

I kissed Sloth on the cheek and slipped out the door into the now silent night. I silently made my way to one of the court yards and got to my knees. I carefully laid three objects on the ground in front of me and began carefully picking them up, gesturing with them, and setting them down again.

"What are you doing?" asked Kaya, startling me and nearly causing me to jump.

"I thought everyone had gone to bed," I said.

"I was having trouble sleeping and decided to go for a walk. Your turn."

"I'm trying to master air bending," I said.

"Tenzin said lessons start tomorrow," said Kaya. "What does kneeling on the ground with a bowl and a stick have to do with air bending?"

"This place has been home to air benders for thousands of years," I said. "Generations upon generations of masters have trained here. One of my powers is called Book of the End. I can use it to insert myself into the past of an object or place."

"Is that what you were doing? Studying under the old air bending masters?"

"No. I was practicing the movements of the ritual I need to perform. I need to take off the power sealing bracers I'm wearing to use the Book of the End. When I do, I won't be able to control my bending. I had to make sure none of the movements involved triggered my bending. I don't want to accidentally knock down the mountain with earth bending or incinerate the temple with fire bending I didn't mean to do."

"Even the Avatar isn't going to knock a mountain down on accident," said Kaya.

"I'm stronger than the Avatar," I said. "That was a big part of why Sloth and I came to this world. We were horribly outmatched the last two worlds we explored and we had to scramble to keep up. This world was supposed to be something easy, where we were undeniably the strongest things here."

"Sloth is a lot stronger than she looks," mused Kaya, "but I'm not sure I buy the scale you're implying."

"Once I've mastered the four elements, it should be safe for me to take my bracers off and show you what I can do. Until then, Sloth's not under any restrictions."

"So, how does this ritual work?" asked Kaya, changing the subject.

"First I take off my bracers," I said, unclipping the bindings from my wrists and setting them down in front of me. "Then I pick up the wooden badge you can't see anymore than you can see my bracers, and use my spirit energy to transform it into something you should be able to see." I took the pentagon shaped badge in my right hand and it was enveloped by bright green flames. When the flames faded, the badge had transformed into a curved short sword with the badge serving as cross guard.

"I can definitely see that," confirmed Kaya, her eyes wide.

"Next, I stab the ground and insert myself into the past," I said, sliding the tip of the blade through the stone tile without damaging it. Withdrawing the sword, I gently set it down on the ground in front of me. "Now I was here, studying air bending for the last ten thousand years under every great master who ever taught here. Nest I take my wand." Picking up the wooden wand I'd forged from spiritually active wood in the Soul Society, with a whisker from the soul reaper captain Sajin Komumura as its core, I touched its tip to my temple. Pulling the wand away, I drew shimmering silver threads out of my head with the wand. "The memories of those thousands of years of studying air bending, I place in the pensive." Thread after thread I drew out, placing them in the rune covered bowl before me.

"Why take them out?" asked Kaya quietly.

I set down my wand and picked the sword back up. "Book of the End creates false histories shared between me and the object I cut. Cutting the same object a second time removes that false history." I stabbed the ground again. After taking the sword out, it was again surrounded by green flames as it reverted to a wooden badge Kaya couldn't see again. "The pensive wasn't part of Book of the End's effects, so it is unaffected by my changes to the timeline being reversed. Now, I just put those memories back in my head." Scooping up the silvery threads with my wand, I carefully tucked them back into my temple. Then I set my wand down again. "Finally, I put my bracers back on." Once they were back on my wrists, I gathered up my things, clipped my badge back onto my belt, holstered my wand, and put the pensive into a pouch of my utility belt that would have been far too small to fit it without space distorting spells laid on every compartment.

"And just like that, you're a master air bender, huh?" said Kaya skeptically.

I shifted my weight, forming a small whirlwind around myself to lift me off the ground just enough to extend out my feet and land standing on the ground. I gestured at a pile of scrap wood near one of the buildings, and a burst of wind sucked a few sticks toward me. While the sticks were flying at me, I clapped my hands. Catching the sticks, blue arcs of alchemic light crackled over them, transmuting them into a traditional Air Nomad glider staff. I unfolded the paper wings and tail before jumping.

The wings were nowhere near wide enough to act as a traditional glider, but by bending a very powerful tail wind, I could not just glide, but gain altitude and properly fly. I flew a quick circuit around the courtyard before flying straight up and folding in the wings and tail of the staff. Twirling the staff above my head, I bent the air into a localized vortex that slowed my descent and let me land lightly, the staff naturally moving to a relaxed ready position.

"That was some really impressive air bending," admitted Kaya. "How did you make the staff though? I thought you put on your bracers and couldn't use your powers?"

"Most of my powers are sealed," I clarified. "Obviously, I can still bend. Other than some shape shifting, the only other power I can use is an ability called alchemy. Alchemy lets me break down and reassemble matter any way I want. Turning those sticks into a wood and paper glider was a really simple example of alchemy."

"What are you going to do next?" asked Kaya.

"Immediately? I'm going to bed. Tomorrow, I'll see how my skills measure up with Tenzin. Ultimately, I'd like to visit other places like this for the other elements Korra gave me."

"I know you'll have better luck with that in the Northern Water Tribe than the south," said Kaya. "All the places we traditionally studied water bending in the south were destroyed during the Hundred Year War. The north held out better and still maintains the old places."

"Thanks. I'll remember that," I said, taking my leave.

* * *

"That'll speed things up a lot," said Sloth when I finished explaining what I'd done. "Can you give me an imprint of what you learned?"

"Sure," I said, clapping my hands and touching the oroboros mark on her shoulder. The mark glowed blue with alchemic light as I imprinted a copy of my newly acquired bending skills onto Sloth's mind.

"This actually goes pretty well with what I was working on while you were gone. Tada!" Sloth presented a silver bracelet that bore a slight resemblance to a wristwatch. "I'm calling it my Soul Bracelet."

"What's it do?" I asked.

"I'm not doing that zanpakto bonding and hollowfication that makes it safe for you to hold multiple elements," said Sloth.

"You've made that very clear," I said with a fond smile. "This is your alternate way to access bending?"

She nodded and said, "The inside has a clockwork mechanism for swapping out modified soul coins. I used an undetectable extension charm to make it bigger on the inside to make room for everything. The transmutation circles are all linked and run off a single red stone. With the charm in place, I can fit a whole stone in there instead of just chips so I won't have to change it out that often."

"How are you keeping the blanking process from removing bending abilities?" I asked.

"I'm not blanking them," said Sloth. "Instead, whenever a soul is removed from my body, loaded with a copy of my memories and personality up to the point of the split, the coin goes into stasis until it's loaded into me again."

"Assuming you go the timing right, the souls wouldn't notice a discontinuity, and they'd serve as memory backups that synchronize whenever they're loaded in. That's a clever solution."

"I'm glad you think so," said Sloth smiling. "I have five positions on the dial. One for each of the elements and one for my Soul Gem. When I want to swap out from my Soul Gem, I open the glass cover and put the ring the these grooves. I close the cover and it locks into place when I different soul is selected. I have a modified soul coin to store my reigai."

"I'm going to assume the whole thing's made of soul synthesized silver and glass," I said. "Lets you keep all the souls you're not using behind an indestructible casing."

Sloth nodded. "I have four blank souls loaded. I need you to energy bend them one at a time."

"Glad to help you finish up your project," I said.

Sloth put on the bracelet, put her Soul Gem ring under the protective cover, and set the dial to air. A quick burst of red alchemic light from the underside of the watch was the only outward sign of the soul swap. I gave her the elements one by one with her switching the dial back to air when I was done.

"Tomorrow morning, we can go flying then play a game of air ball," suggested Sloth.

"After breakfast," I agreed. "Wearing the bracers all the time means I need less food and sleep than I do with them off, but it doesn't eliminate those needs all together."

"I wonder what Air Nomad food's like," mused Sloth. "You didn't get any memories of that?"

"I only inserted memories of the training," I said. "Book of the End doesn't need to insert whole narratives, or even internally consistent ones."

"And you saved the fun parts for us to learn about together in the present," said Sloth, air bending herself up level with me to kiss me. "I love you."

Catching her rather than let her drop to the ground when she stopped air bending, I said, I love you too." Then I kissed her back.

I carried my wife to our bed, tossed our utility belts to the side table, and pulled aside the sheets. We laid down together, dismissing our clothing with a thought.

"I haven't warded the room," said Sloth as we laid down together. "No soundproofing, anyone could walk in on us, no privacy measures at all."

"We're here among friends," I said. "We're probably safe for one night without wards. We can set some up tomorrow. I'm pretty tired from the trip, the spirit bending, and the thousands of years of air bending training anyway. I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight," she said, blowing out the candles in the room with air bending without getting out of bed. We snuggled together and drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.

* * *

Author's comments:  
By granting bending to the existing Air Acolytes, who have already embraced the Air Nomad lifestyle, Tenzin is going to have much less trouble training them than he did trying to assemble Air Nomads out of people who never cared about that culture and didn't want to be a part of it.


	3. Chapter 3: Jinora's Training

The Iron Sole Alchemist in the Benders' World (Chapter 3) Jinora's Training and Korra's Warning  
by Howlin  
(Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to any of the universes, places, or characters, and only claim the protagonist, Sloth, and Loki as my own creation. This is fan fiction, and I don't profit from it. Please don't sue me.)

* * *

Air Nomads were strict vegetarians, which might've presented a problem for Loki if he'd been a normal dog, but his modified digestive system was robust enough to handle much the same range of foods humans could without significant worries about malnutrition. Breakfast consisted of fruits, pastries, and eggs, all wonderfully prepared by the temple's head cook.

Once we'd finished eating, Sloth and I ran to the cliff edge on one side of the temple and jumped off. Loki followed us over the edge. Popping open our staff gliders, Sloth and I soared back up to the surprised oohs and aahs of the people there. Loki formed a set of midair footholds out of condensed spirit energy and bounded after Sloth and I, his tongue lolling out as he enjoyed the new game.

After zigzagging between the temple's spires, the three of us came in for a landing in the courtyard. Most of the crowd cheered, though Tenzin was turning colors as he approached us.

"What were you two thinking going off on a glider like that without any training?! You could've been killed!"

"First off, we couldn't have," said Sloth. "Greed and I? We're immortal. Cut off our heads, we'll grow new ones. Falling off a cliff won't even slow us down. Secondly, we mastered air bending last night."

"I saw the ritual they used," said Kaya. "Some sort of spiritual ceremony that let them learn from every past master that taught here."

"Is that something you can teach me?" asked Jinora. "There's so much that was lost. If grandpa Aang didn't learn something there was no one else to teach it."

"Eventually, yes," I promised. "We're going to want to wait until you're properly bonded with your zanpakto before we get into that one, but I have plenty of more basic techniques to get you started on in the meantime."

"Are you gonna teach Jinora to grow her head back? How long does spiritual training take? Does this mean you don't need my dad to teach you anything after all?" asked Ikki.

"Growing back your head isn't a spiritual technique, mastering spirit energy can take years or even decades, and while we don't need an air bending teacher, we were still hoping your dad would teach us about the local spirits and spiritual realms," I replied.

"Huh, that makes sense," said Ikki.

"When did you want to start teaching me about spiritual powers?" asked Jinora.

"You're an advanced air bender, right?" I confirmed. "Your dad is going to be teaching a big class the earliest basics. I figured while he was doing that, I could start teaching you."

"We're going to get started in about an hour," confirmed Tenzin. "Come see me afterward and I'll go over what I know about the spirit world."

"Thanks, daddy," said Jinora, giving her father a hug.

"What do we do?" asked Meelo looking at Ikki.

"Did you want to go looking for flying lemurs with me?" offered Kaya.

"You're the best, Aunt Kaya," declared Ikki.

"If we have an hour, that means we can still get in a quick game of air ball," said Sloth. "Come on."

Moving her hands in a circular pattern, Sloth created a tight ball of rapidly spinning air, set it on the ground, and hopped on top of it, crossing one leg while balancing on the other with her fists together in front of her for balance. The technique was called the air scooter and could be used to travel quickly from one place to another by riding the spinning ball of air. She took off toward the air ball court. Ikki, Jinora, Meelo, and I created our own air scooters and raced to catch up, Loki trotting behind.

* * *

Air ball was played on a field covered in wooden pillars of varying lengths. The players use air bending to send the ball down the field toward one another's goal. Bouncing the ball off pillars with varying levels of spin let you send the ball toward the other team in a way they hopefully wouldn't predict thanks to the angle of the bounce.

The game was fast paced, with the ball rocketing back and forth across the field as both teams intercepted their opponent's shot and tried sending it right back. I was teamed with Ikki and Meelo while Sloth was with Jinora. It was remarkably close. The first goal of the game was scored thanks to a wild shot from Meelo I was sure hadn't been deliberate.

Soon, Kaya arrived to take Ikki and Meelo off our hands. Sloth excused herself, heading back o our room to unpack and lay down some basic privacy and protection wards. Spirit energy wasn't really her thing anyway. Jinora and I headed out to the garden for our lesson. Loki laid down at the sidelines to watch.

"I see you've been keeping your zanpakto with you like I asked. Good. Have you felt anything from it yet?"

"No. I mean, I can feel a kind of energy from it, but that's been there from the start. There's no... presence like you described. Nothing like a person or a spirit."

"That's all right. The time it takes to bond is different for everyone. Eventually, it will awaken and you'll hear its voice."

"You have a zanpakto, right? I don't see you carrying it and you don't have any luggage."

"There's a technique for hiding a zanpakto inside your body. Since it's bonded to your soul, it would only become visible if you leave your body."

"I understand," said Jinora.

"We'll start by going over some of the basics," I said, settling in to my planned lesson. "The soul reapers, the people who invented the zanpakto, are a martial society, focused on fighting a never ending battle against corrupted ghosts called hollows. Soul reapers divide their techniques into four broad categories. Zanjutsu is swordsmanship and the use of the zanpakto. Hakudo is an unarmed combat style for fighting spiritual beings that only rarely take on human form. Hoho is a set of techniques to improve one's mobility in battle, including the ability to stand in midair, move faster than the eye can see, and leave afterimages of yourself to confuse your opponents. Finally, Kido is the term for general spell casting, shaping spirit energy into a wide variety of effects through the use of chants, incantations, hand signs, and gestures.

"I'll be teaching you all four, but for the first lesson, we'll focus on zanjutsu." I transmuted a pair of wooden training swords and tossed her one. "We'll start with the basics of swordsmanship and move on to meditation with your blade so you'll be ready to communicate with it when it awakens."

Jinora's air bending training left her used to martial instruction. She hadn't trained with swords before, but some of her training with the air bending glider staff applied. After a couple hours going over the basics, I called a stop.

"You can get away with sing your zanpakto like an ordinary sword against weaker spirits, but against stronger ones, you'll need to understand spiritual pressure," I explained. "Ordinarily, your spirit energy leaks out of your body at a slow, steady rate. That baseline level of leakage is what makes it possible for you to harm spiritual beings with less spirit energy than you using your zanpakto or your bare hands.

"By concentrating your spirit energy, you can increase your spiritual pressure. A person with greater spiritual pressure can win a fight against one with greater total spirit energy. We'll work on your spiritual pressure later, but I wanted to give you an early introduction to the concept, since it's so important in zanjutsu."

"It's sort of like a water hose," mused Jinora. "It sprays harder if there's a nozzle that restricts the flow."

"Exactly," I said. "For now, let's meditate."

She sat cross legged and I helped her arrange her sword on her lap in the traditional pose. Mediation was already a big part of Air Nomad culture, so Jinora was proficient in the basics. I introduced her to the concept of an inner world where her sword spirit would manifest and could be communicated with. While Jinora looked within herself for that place, I sat down and meditated as well.

I was well practiced at this form of meditation and found myself in my inner world almost immediately. My inner world consisted of a flat, featureless plain with a maze of bookshelves laid out containing the sum total of my knowledge. The Gate of Truth, which contained all the knowledge in the universe and which served as the source of my alchemy abilities loomed over the library, making the vast collection of tomes seem small and insignificant by comparison.

Tsumi no Rensa, the spirit of my zanpakto, was there when I arrived. The sword spirit looked like a man dressed in socks, sandals, pleated black pants, and a black vest. He was about my height, but more broad shouldered and thickly muscled. His brown hair was spiked up like mine. The chains he wore as a belt, bracelets, and headband were the true form of my sword and far deadlier than any mere blade.

He was leaning against a bookshelf and had a book opened. "The meditation space sounds lovely," he said. "While I'd never tell you to stop seeking new powers, I am disappointed in how long it's taking for you to develop your bending to the point you can use your spirit energy safely."

"Kaya gave me a recommendation on where to go for water bending," I said. "I thought it was pretty clever using Book of the End to speed things up."

"I'm not criticizing your progress. I'm just disappointed you can't use external manifestation to let us see the temple in person instead of having to read about it."

"I'm criticizing your progress," said Araña. My inner hollow, Araña, looked exactly like me except for coloration. His skin and hair were chalky white. The whites of his eyes were black and his irises were yellow. He was dressed in a white uniform of Amestrian design with black trim.

"If you've got a better idea, let's hear it," I said to the personification of my baser instincts.

"Stab Korra with Book of the End," said Araña. "She's already mastered the elements, so if you trained with her the whole time, you'd have mastery in one step."

"I'm not using Book of the End on people unless it's an emergency," I declared. "My plan won't take that long, then I'll be able to manifest you again without risking collateral damage."

"There may be a way to access your spirit energy safely before you master the elements," said Vaccine as he hopped down from his perch on top of one of the bookshelves. The avatar of my quincy powers, Vaccine, was a tall, middle aged man with a mop of thick black hair and a five o'clock shadow. He wore tinted sunglasses and an amorphous black overcoat that billowed as he hopped down.

"What have you got?" I asked.

"Nothing certain," admitted Vaccine, "but the people of this world have been dealing with bending for a long time. It's possible they know a way to safely disable a person's bending temporarily." Vaccine took a book off the shelf and consulted it briefly before adding, "When Korra explained about Amon, she emphasized that his removal of bending abilities was permanent. If there is a way to temporarily disable your bending..."

"I'll look into it," I promised. "I should head back and see how Jinora's doing."

I opened my eyes in the outer world, ending my meditation. Jinora was still meditating. To my surprise, Sloth was there. She was sitting next to Loki, stroking his head with a worried look on her face.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I unpacked the foeglass we keep on our night stand," said Sloth. "We have enemies."

I took a different foeglass from one of my belt pouches. Two distant, indistinct figures were reflected in the magic mirror. The nature of the foeglass is that your enemies grow closer and clearer in the foeglass as the enemy's plans come closer to fruition. At this point, all I could say for sure was that one of the figures was human and the other was a strange tentacled creature who's species I didn't recognize.

"Based on the image, I figure it'll be a month, maybe two, before whatever they're planning gets close to completion," said Sloth.

"I guess that's my deadline for getting my powers working right," I said.

* * *

After Jinora finished meditating, we called it a day on spiritual training. Sloth and I headed out to one of the gardens to try and get a better idea what was coming. We'd set up a table with tarot cards, astrological charts, crystal balls, burning braziers, and a tea pot. Sloth was reading tea leaves and I was laying out a tarot card reading when Bumi came by.

"I don't think I've seen this much fortune telling equipment since I helped relocate a small Earth Kingdom town that had been built at the base of a volcano," said Bumi.

"One of our dark detectors indicated an enemy'll be making a move in the next couple months," I explained. "We're trying to work out more details."

"Most folks don't put a lot of stock in fortune telling," said Bumi, "but between the stories dad told us growing up and some of the things I've seen serving with the United Forces, I think there are some people who can pull it off. What've you got so far?"

"Korra's at the center of it," I summarized. "The enemy is someone related to her, either physically or spiritually. Maybe both. And if things go badly enough, it could mean the end of this world."

"That sounds pretty serious," acknowledged Bumi. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Is there some way to get a message to Korra?" asked Sloth. "We mot have much to go on yet, but at least we can warn her something's coming and that she should keep her eyes open."

"All the air temples have radios for communicating with each other and the outside world," said Bumi. "You'll want to talk to Tenzin about sending a message."

"Other than that, I do't suppose you know of a way to temporarily disable a person's bending, do you?" I asked.

"You mean something like chi blocking?" asked Bumi.

"Never heard of it," I replied.

"Well, it's a kind of martial arts that focuses on striking pressure points that disrupt the flow of chi in a person's body. They can use it to shut down a person's bending or paralyze selected limbs. It wears off after a few minute to a couple hours depending on exactly what they did to you."

"That's perfect," I said. "Do you know a place where they teach it?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," declared Bumi proudly. "A lot of places have made chi blocking illegal, but the warriors of Kyoshi Island have been making it a part of their training regimen ever since the end of the Hundred Year War. In fact, Kyoshi Island isn't that far from here. We'll be flying right over it when we got to the eastern air temple in a few weeks. You should be able to convince my baby brother to stop off on the way long enough for you to do that ritual of yours."

"That sounds like a plan," I said. "Thank you, Bumi."

"I should be thanking you," said Bumi. "Now that I'm an air bender, I can do my part to help preserve dad's legacy."

"We'll let you know as soon as we have more information about the threat," said Sloth.

* * *

Tenzin was more skeptical of the value of divination than Bumi was, but he agreed to help us use the temple's radio to contact the Southern Water Tribe and pass on our warning. Unfortunately, Korra wasn't at the Southern Water Tribe. She'd gone out on an expedition with Mako, Bolin, her father Tanraq, Chief Ulanaq, and Ulanaq's children Eska and Desna.

"We could leave a message with someone," suggested Tenzin. "Korra's mother Senna's still in the city."

"Our information suggests she's going to be betrayed by a relative," I said. "Is there anyone else?"

"There is Asami," said Tenzin. "Asami Sato, head of the manufacturing corporation Future Industries. She worked with Korra to take down Amon and the Equalists. She was at the south pole to negotiate some sort of business deal."

"That sounds good. Let's try to get in contact with her," I said.

After a few minutes, we were connected with Asami. She promised to relay the warning to Korra as soon as she got back from her expedition.

For the moment, that was all we could really do.

* * *

Author's comments:  
Bumi is a worldly traveler who's been all over and has plenty of stories to tell. That aspect of his character didn't get nearly enough emphasis originally.


	4. Chapter 5: The Past and its Legacies

The Iron Sole Alchemist in the Benders' World (Chapter 5) The Past and its Legacies  
by Howlin  
(Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to any of the universes, places, or characters, and only claim the protagonist, Sloth, and Loki as my own creation. This is fan fiction, and I don't profit from it. Please don't sue me.)

* * *

Later that night, I was startled awake by a strange spiritual pressure. Sloth was sleeping soundly in the bed next to me. Loki was curled up on a bed we set up for him in the corner.

The spiritual pressure was building toward something, but nothing about it felt threatening. I carefully got out of bed without disturbing Sloth and crept out of the room. Once out the door, I willed my usual outfit to appear then I headed down toward the source of the spiritual pressure.

I wasn't the only one up. Jinora had come from the women's part of the temple, wearing loose fitting light pajamas. We'd both been drawn to the same door.

"You sense it too?" I confirmed.

Jinora nodded. "What is it?"

"Let's find out," I said, pushing open the door.

The room was full of statues, each a full sized representation of a different person. They were arranged in a spiraling pattern that filled the room. There were hundreds. Every fourth statue had the air bender tattoos of a master air bender. These were statues of the previous avatars. Faint traces of spiritual pressure were detectable from each statue.

The strongest trace came from an upper level, tucked away in an out of the way corner. The source was an avatar statue like the others, but much older, done in a different style, and carved from wood rather than stone. Wrapped around the former avatar was a carving of a tentacled creature just like I'd seen in my foeglass.

Suddenly, the spiritual pressure we'd sensed building spiked. The eyes of every avatar statue lit up with the same blue white light I'd seen Korra's eyes glow with. The arrow tattoos on the Air Nomad avatars glowed as well, as did patches on the creature depicted in the wooden statue. I could feel Korra's energy through the statues, focused and determined. The light lasted only a few seconds before going dark again, and the spiritual pressure receded.

"The statues are all tied to the avatar," explained Jinora. "Whenever the avatar uses the avatar state, they light up along with her. But how did we know it was going to happen ahead of time?"

Examining the statues' energies, I said, "The statues are still connected to the avatar, even when they're not glowing. What we sensed was Korra drawing deeper and deeper on her spirit energy before she used the avatar state."

"You can tell all that by looking at them?" asked Jinora impressed.

"We'll work on your spiritual senses tomorrow," I said. "Honestly, I'm surprised you sensed as much as you did with no training. Meanwhile, what can you tell me about the avatar state?"

"It's the other thing that makes the avatar special, besides being able to bend all four elements. Using the avatar state lets the current avatar access all the combined knowledge and power of her past lives. It makes her incredibly powerful, but there's a drawback. If the avatar is ever killed in the avatar state, they won't reincarnate and the cycle will be broken forever."

"That fits," I mused. "I've encountered a kind of parasitic spirit weapon called a bakoto that drastically increases a person's spirit energy and causes the glowing eyes thing. The problem is, overclocking the soul like that risks the soul's destruction. The people I've seen die in that state didn't even leave a spiritual body behind.

"What about the statue? Can you tell me what kind of creature this is behind the avatar?"

Jinora shook her head. "Maybe daddy would know more."

I stared at the ancient wooden statue for a long moment before saying," I'll ask him in the morning. We should get to bed."

"Um, do you think Korra's okay?" asked Jinora.

"The statues are still connected to her," I said. "The spirit energy I'm feeling through that connection is healthy and strong. For now, I think Korra's just fine."

* * *

The next morning, I explained what had happened during the night to Sloth, then took her and Tenzin to see the peculiar avatar statue.

"It's thinner than I expected from the foeglass," noted Sloth. "With that and the streamers, it looks like we're up against an evil kite."

"Do you recognize this creature?" I asked Tenzin.

"From the placement and emphasis, it's obviously a spirit of some sort, but I've never heard of a spirit like that," said Tenzin. Scratching his chin, he added, "Although... the people who made this statue must have known what they were depicting. Can you use the same ability you used to master air bending to talk to the people who made it?"

"That's not a bad idea," I said, kneeling in front of the statue.

I unhooked my substitute soul reaper combat pass from my belt and took out my pensive and my magic wand and laid all three items on the floor in front of me. With careful, deliberate action, I unfastened the bracers on my wrists and set them on the floor. Picking up my badge and exerting my spiritual pressure, I transformed it into a curved short sword in a swirl of green flames. I pierced the statue near its base, doing no physical damage and inserting myself into its past.

* * *

The Southern Air Temple was under construction. A group of monks were laying the first stones of the foundation. They were air benders, many of them sporting blue tattoos similar, but distinct from the blue arrow tattoos modern air benders earn on achieving mastery. One person stood out, a young man with pale skin, amber eyes, a small pointed beard, and brown hair worn up but not quite spiked. Now that the statue was brand new, it was obvious this was the man depicted. He touched the statue and briefly entered the avatar state, forging the connection between himself and the statue, causing it to glow for the first time.

"Hello," I said when he'd finished. "My name is Greed. I'd like to ask you some questions if that's okay."

"My name is Wan," replied the Avatar. "What can I do for you?"

"What sort of creature is that on your statue with you?"

"That's Raava, the light spirit," replied Wan. "If you haven't heard of her, it might be best if I tell you my story."

"I have the time," I said, sitting down near the statue.

"My story begins many years ago. I was a poor thief, stealing bread to survive and help feed my friends. We lived under the rule of a family called the Chus, who hoarded most of the food for themselves. I'd had enough of living like that, so I came up with a plan.

"I joined an expedition into the spirit wilds. The lion turtle w lived on for protection from the spirits granted hunters the gift of fire to defend themselves while in the spirit wilds. I made an excuse and headed back, but I didn't return the fire to the lion turtle like I was supposed to. Instead, I used it to lead a raid against the Chus. It didn't work out.

"I was banished. Thankfully, the lion turtle let me keep the fire to protect myself with. I wandered the spirit wilds, befriending the spirits and learning to use the fire I'd been granted. Eventually, I set out to find the other lion turtles the spirits told me about, each offering shelter to a society of humans. That journey was where I met Raava.

"Spirits and animals alike were fleeing from a titanic battle. I found two enormous spirits fighting. Raava glowed white with blue markings while Vaatu was black with red markings. Otherwise, they seemed identical.

"Vaatu called out for my help while Raava warned me not to interfere. I used my fire to free Vaatu and he fled. Raava stayed and explained what I had done. Raava was the spirit of light and order while Vaatu was the spirit of darkness and chaos. Raava had been holding him in check, but my interference meant he was free to spread his darkness, corrupt other spirits, and grow in strength.

"As Vaatu grew stronger, Raava grew weaker. It was approaching a time called harmonic convergence, when the planes align and the two spirits battle over the fate of the world. Whichever spirit won would decide the fate of the world for the next ten thousand years. The losing spirit would eventually be reborn inside the winner and the cycle would start anew, but that wouldn't be much comfort to the people who would die during Vaatu's ten thousand years of darkness if he won.

"Raava and I journeyed to find the other lion turtles. It wasn't about curiosity or finding other humans to talk to anymore. It was about gaining the power of the other elements to help fight Vaatu. The lion turtles agreed, but warned us that Raava had to hold the other elements since I couldn't handle more than one at a time. Raava swapped them out for me while I trained.

"By the time harmonic convergence came, Raava was small and weak enough to carry in my tea pot while Vaatu was as big as a lion turtle. The only way we stood a chance against him was by fusing together. When we fused, we could use all four elements at once and with much more power than I could alone. The fusion risked killing me before we could defeat Vaatu, so we used the energies unleashed by harmonic convergence to stabilize it, with the side effect of making it permanent. Raava's a part of me forever now."

"What happened to Vaatu?" I asked.

"I knew if I killed him, he'd grow back inside Raava, so instead I imprisoned him inside a massive tree called the Tree of Time. It's in the spirit world between the portals at the north and south poles. You won't be able to go there though.

"The human and spirit worlds were never meant to be connected like that. Vaatu had originally torn open the portals, and fed on the terror and chaos as the spirits forced the humans into hiding on the lion turtles. With Vaatu imprisoned, I sent the spirits back to their own world and closed the portals."

"How long with Vaatu's seal last?" I asked.

"Forever," said Wan. "The Tree of Time keeps the energies circulating as strong as they were when Vaatu was first imprisoned. The only way for him to get out would be to harness the energies of harmonic convergence, but with the spirit portals sealed, those energies won't be able to reach him. He'd only have a chance once every ten thousand years, and it'd take Raava's power to reopen the spirit portals."

"I see," I said with some concern in my voice. "Thank you for telling me all this. It was an honor to meet you, Avatar Wan."

* * *

In the present, used my wand to remove my memories of conversing with Avatar Wan, storing the silvery strands of memory in the pensive. I stabbed Wan's statue a second time, removing the false history I'd inserted. Remaining perfectly still, I spoke to Sloth and Tenzin.

"Before I return the memories to my head, you should see them. It'll save time on explanations."

Sloth and Tenzin looked into the rune inscribed bowl, leaning closer and closer until they were drawn inside it. Within the pensive, they would experience the memory as though they were invisible, intangible beings. The memory was an objective record, more a supernatural recording of events than the imprecise, mutable experience of an actual memory, so they could potentially see and notice things I hadn't at the time, and Wan's story would be unchanged by my retelling.

When Sloth and Tenzin exited the pensive, I replaced my memories inside my head and put the spirit energy sealing bracers back on. I gathered up my things and stood up.

"That was the first Avatar. You spoke to the first Avatar," declared Tenzin.

"Someone's plotting to release Vaatu," said Sloth. "If Korra's the only one who can do that, we have to warn her."

As the three of us exited the temple, we saw Pemma, Kaya, and Bumi standing over a guilty looking Jinora and Meelo. Pemma saw us coming and explained what was going on with clear irritation.

"Tenzin, Ikki's run away. Apparently, her sister and brother were teasing her again."

I glanced at Jinora and shook my head. She lowered her head looking more miserable than she already was. Then I put a hand on Tenzin's shoulder, saying, "We'll find her. Obviously, this takes priority."

"Loki can track by scent," offered Sloth, whistling for our dog.

"Commander Bumi reporting for duty," declared Tenzin's older brother. "Search and rescue missions are my specialty."

"What do you say we all go together?" suggested Kaya, putting an arm around her brothers' shoulders.

"Sure. I could use the help," agreed Tenzin readily.

Turning to Meelo, Bumi said, "When I get back, we'll come up with a plan to take down that shark squid once and for all."

Meelo cheered enthusiastically. After we were out of range, I said, "You shouldn't be rewarding him after he's done something wrong."

"I disagree," said Bumi. "Disciplining a young boy is the job of his parents. It's the fun uncle's job to spoil him and be an adult he can talk to even when his parents are mad at him."

* * *

Loki picked up Ikki's scent leaving the temple. She'd gotten pretty far. Considering how recent the fight must have been, Ikki had been running all out. Air benders can use their abilities to run at hundreds of miles per hour by eliminating air resistance ahead of them and giving themselves a hurricane force tailwind.

We had to move much slower than that. Kaya and Bumi couldn't match that speed at all, and while Loki could manage using flash step, he'd never be able to follow Ikki's scent going that fast. While we followed Loki, Tenzin called out for his daughter.

"Ikki! Ikki, where are you?"

"Over here, dad," came a voice from a nearby bush. Bumi popped out of it laughing as he declared, "Just kidding. It's me."

We all gave Bumi a dirty look, then Tenzin lamented, "Why would Ikki run off like this? It's probably my fault."

"Probably," said Kaya coldly.

"Excuse me?" asked Tenzin.

"I'm guessing you've been so busy with your 'duty' to Republic City that you forgot about your duty to your kids," elaborated Kaya.

"Doody," giggled Bumi.

"What are you, five years old?" snapped Kaya.

Tenzin sighed. "Kaya, you're right. I haven't been spending enough time with them. I wish I could be as good a father as dad was to us."

"Tenzin, your problem is you're exactly like dad," declared Kaya. "He was so focused on saving the world and doing his duty -don't laugh- that he never had time for us."

"Dad was under a lot of pressure," said Tenzin.

"He always had time for you," said Bumi mockingly, "his precious little air bender."

"Dad loved all of us equally," snapped Tenzin. "Besides, it all happened a long time ago. Why are we even talking about this?"

"Because you seem to have some grandiose delusion that we had a perfect, happy go lucky childhood," declared Kaya. "Guess what. We didn't."

Turning his back, Tenzin said, "We need to keep moving if we want to find Ikki before dark."

"See what he's doing there?" said Kaya. "Classic air bender technique. Cutting and running when things get tough."

"Yeah. Did dad teach you that move?" taunted Bumi.

Two puffs of smoke came out of my nostrils as I turned on the pair of them. "What is wrong with you? We are out here looking for a lost child. If you care more about whining about your daddy issues than finding Ikki, go back to the temple and do it there. We'll see you back there once we make sure Ikki's going to survive long enough to have daddy issues of her own."

"Who do you think you are?" demanded Kaya.

"A total stranger who just met your family a few days ago," I said, turning my back on her.

"Just go back and see if Ikki came back on her own," said Tenzin.

The two older siblings turned back while Sloth, Loki, Tenzin, and I pressed on. I cooled off enough that I was no longer involuntarily fire bending, but I was still annoyed at the two of them. I wasn't alone in that, but we all focused our attention on the search.

We were following Ikki's trail half the night, eventually finding her asleep in a cave. A group of baby sky bison were sleeping in a pile and Ikki was snuggled up on one side. Tenzin let out a relieved sigh on finding his daughter.

"I'll stay here and talk to her when she wakes up," said Tenzin. "Can you go back to the temple and let everyone know she's all right?"

"We'll let them know they can stop worrying," said Sloth.

Transmuting a pair of glider staffs, Sloth and I flew back to the air temple. Loki followed us through the air with flash step.

* * *

Meelo and Jinora had gone to bed. Pemma was still up worrying, and we were able to put her mind at ease so she could go to bed. We found Bumi and Kaya in the statue room.

"Ikki's fine," I said. "Tenzin's bringing her back in the morning."

"Thanks for letting us know," said Bumi. "I know we weren't exactly being mature out there."

"We shouldn't have let our issues with dad get in the way of bringing Ikki home safe," acknowledged Kaya.

"What did happen with Aang?" asked Sloth.

"Dad was the last air bender," said Bumi. "Us kids were his only chance to bring the air benders back, but after I was born a non bender Kaya turned out to be a water bender, neither of us could be what he wanted."

"After Tenzin was born, dad spent a lot more time with him than he did with either of us," said Kaya. "Sure, it was about making sure his new air bender knew Air Nomad culture so he could pass it on, but this is our heritage too."

"Dad spent most of his time traveling and keeping the world safe," said Bumi. "I joined up with the United Fores to sort of follow in dad's footsteps. So, I don't think we ever asked. What were your families like?"

"I didn't have one," I said. "I was raised by the church in a small desert town. I left the church after it turned out the priest was a fraud trying to make us into an army to take over the world."

"Yikes," said Bumi. "Makes our issues look petty, huh?"

"My father was a State Alchemist. He fused my sister Nina with the family dog. She was in constant pain until a serial killer came by and mercy killed her. Then my father created me to replace her, implanting me with all her memories. He alternated between using me like a doll to pretend he hadn't done that to Nina and sending me on missions to corrupt people and lead them into committing atrocities for his benefit."

"Seriously?" asked Kaya, stunned.

"What happened to him?" asked Bumi.

"We left him stranded on a world where his powers didn't work," explained Sloth. "He was on the losing side of a war in that world. If he didn't kill himself, the people who won the war would have. We left that choice up to him."

"Wow," was all Kaya could say.

"We've both moved on from being defined by our origins," I said, hugging Sloth. "We've done a lot of good and helped a lot of people. We couldn't do that if we couldn't put our issues aside to focus on the task at hand. I'm going to go to bed now, but tomorrow, we're going to be making plans for something important. Think long and hard about whether you can do better than I saw tonight. If you can't, I don't want you along."

* * *

The nest morning, Tenzin returned with Ikki. Jinora and Meelo apologized and the three siblings reconciled. Tenzin and his siblings were going to be harder, but it looked like everyone was ready to give it an effort. As such, we invited Kaya and Bumi to help Tenzin, Sloth, and I decide on a course of action regarding Vaatu. Getting the two of them up to speed didn't take long.

"It sounds like all we have to do is make sure the portals stay closed during harmonic convergence," said Kaya. "If Korra's the only one who can open the portals, telling her about Vaatu should solve the problem."

"There's still whoever this person is trying to free Vaatu," said Tenzin. "Unlikely though it may be, we can't ignore the possibility that whoever it is may have found a way to open the spirit portals without Korra. If they have, it won't be as simple as keeping Korra away from the poles until after harmonic convergence."

"I don't suppose you two have any more toys that could help us figure out who the bad guy is, do you?" asked Bumi.

"Tons," said Sloth. "Give it long enough and the foeglass'll show his face. Won't be perfectly clear until he's about to pull off his plan. A sneakoscope will light up and whistle in the presence of someone untrustworthy. Secrecy sensors vibrate in the presence of lies and deceptions. Veritasyrum can force a person to reveal their darkest secrets with just three drops. That's on top of the general mind reading we can do. We'd need a suspect to start with, but once we have one, we can get answers quick."

"Do we have a suspect?" asked Bumi.

"Ulanaq," said Tenzin. "He was pushing hard to become Korra's teacher, and we know whoever this is most likely needs her to open the portals and free Vaatu."

"I'd say you're just mad at the guy who got your job after the avatar fired you," began Bumi, "if it weren't for the fact that our other clue is that prophecy about Korra being betrayed by a family member. Ulanaq is her uncle."

"We'll need to be in his presence to check him, but it'll be quick to confirm one way or the other," I said. "Does Korra have family beyond Ulanaq, Tanraq, Senna, Desna, and Eska?"

"Well, there's us," said Kaya. "She is dad's reincarnation. I know the incarnation before him was related to Fire Lord Izumi and her family."

Sloth held up a sneakoscope, declaring, "Everyone in the room now's trustworthy."

"If it isn't Ulanaq, we should work with him," said Tenzin. "In addition to being chief of the Northern Water Tribe, he's a powerful bender with immense knowledge of the spirit world. He also has access to a prison holding the next most likely suspect."

"Who?" asked Bumi.

"When Korra was very young, a group of four extremely talented individuals tried to kidnap her," said Tenzin. "After we stopped them, we had to put them in specialized prisons to counter their abilities. None of the prisoners ever told us why they'd tried to kidnap Korra or who else might have been involved. One of the prisons is a secret facility at the north pole."

"What sort of abilities do they have?" I asked.

"Three of them are exceptionally powerful benders with unique applications for their native element," said Tenzin. "Their prisons had to be designed to deny them access to their element. The fourth was an extremely skilled non bender martial artist, who we put someplace his friends wouldn't be able to get to him easily if one of them managed to break out."

"So, are we ready to get moving?" asked Kaya. "Bumi, Tenzin, and I can talk to Korra while you two talk to Ulanaq and figure out who's side he's on. We can be there in under a day if we take a sky bison. Pemma and the kids'll be safe here."

"I need to ask for a stop on the way," I said. "Kyoshi Island has some information that'll hopefully make me a lot more useful."

"What are you going to need the extra power for?" asked Kaya.

"Fighting Vaatu," I said. "If things go horribly wrong and he gets free, I'm going to want the option of dropping my limiters to deal with him without rearranging the landscape with accidental bending."

"We still have some time," said Tenzin. "We'll make the Kyoshi Island stop then head south to get Korra."

* * *

Kyoshi Island was named after Avatar Kyoshi, the most recent avatar born to the Earth Kingdom. Local lore held that it had been a peninsula until Avatar Kyoshi separated it from the mainland using earth bending to protect the people from being conquered by a tyrant named Chin. What I could see of the island's shape as we approached by air supported that theory.

A statue of Kyoshi herself stood vigil on top of a pole near the village proper, dressed in a long kimono and wielding a pair of war fans. Sentries spotted us coming and when we made our landing a group of Kyoshi Warriors were on hand to greet us. They were all women, dressed in green kimonos and wearing identical face paint and head dresses. Each had a straight sword at her hip and a pair of war fans in her belt.

"Tenzin?" asked one of the older women. Now sure she recognized him, she said, "I suppose that's Master Tenzin now. You've earned your tattoos. It's been quite a while. Are you here to take your family out to ride the elephant koi?"

Tenzin looked at his siblings and asked, "Did you want to ride the elephant koi while we're here?"

They both rolled their eyes. I stepped forward.

"Hello. My name is Greed. Commander Bumi here has told me about the training you do here, and I was hoping you'd be willing to let me study here."

"Traditionally, the combat style of the Kyoshi Warriors is only taught to women," said the apparent leader of the group.

I smiled and said, "Well, if it's traditional..." A line of blue alchemic light ran from the soles of my shoes up my body. Where it passed, my body was changed. At first, it was subtle, adjusting the shape of my legs and widening my hips a bit. As the wave passed over my chest, my usually open vest buttoned closed over my new breasts. The changes to my face were subtle, leaving my preferred spiked up hair style intact. I was recognizably myself, just a female version of myself.

"What did I just see?" asked the stunned leader of the Kyoshi Warriors.

"Greed and I are shape shifters," explained Sloth.

"They're visitors from another world here to help us confront a threat from the spirit world," explained Tenzin. "What they came to Kyoshi Island to do won't take long, then we can be out of your way."

"Won't take long?" asked the leader. "Our martial forms take years of practice to truly master."

"I'm a quick study," I said. Then I added, "What I actually intend to do is perform a ritual on the island that will let me experience all the lessons that have been taught here over the years. The ritual will only take a few minutes, but I wanted to get your permission first."

"I... suppose that's acceptable," said the woman we'd been conversing with.

"Thank you," I said, getting out the things I needed for the ritual.

The Kyoshi Warriors watched curiously as I performed the necessary steps. When I was done, I got to my feet and shook my head.

"What's wrong?" asked Sloth.

"I earned everything I wanted to know about chi blocking, and got some general combat training in as a bonus. Turns out chi blocking can be used to disrupt bending, but it also shuts down spirit energy and even alchemy. The pressure points involved disrupt the flow of energy of all kinds within the body."

"So you can't use it to shut off your bending while you use your spirit energy," said Sloth. "I know you don't like it, but you might need to sit it out when the fight with Vaatu starts."

I sighed and said, "You're right. It was worth a try, but I guess I'll have to wait until I've mastered the other three elements."

"Are you some other world's avatar?" asked the lead Kyoshi Warrior.

"No. I'm just an explorer," I said. "My soul's been modified in a way that makes it safe for me to hold all four bending elements, but anyone's soul could be modified the same way."

"We should get going," said Tenzin. "Hopefully, we'll be able to explain what's going on to Korra and no one will need to fight Vaatu."

"Thank you for letting me study here," I said, bowing before joining the others climbing back aboard the sky bison.

I clapped my hands and touched the oroboros mark on Sloth's back once we were on board. The tattoo glowed blue for an instant as I imprinted a copy of what I'd learned into her mind.

"At least this'll help us disable and bring in Vaatu's human ally," said Sloth. "Um, are you planning on staying like that?"

I shrugged, shape shifting back to my default male form. "I didn't want to change back until we were on our way."

"Just as long as I don't end up down a husband," said Sloth. "We already have enough girls in this relationship."

* * *

Author's comments:  
Vaatu is going to break free from his prison because after ten thousand years, people have forgotten the threat. A small child is left to wander the wilderness alone because her rescuers can't forget the wrongs in their past long enough to help her.


	5. Chapter 6: Vaatu's True Threat

The Iron Sole Alchemist in the Benders' World (Chapter 6) Vaatu's True Threat  
by Howlin  
(Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to any of the universes, places, or characters, and only claim the protagonist, Sloth, and Loki as my own creation. This is fan fiction, and I don't profit from it. Please don't sue me.)

* * *

The sun was just rising over a glacier off to the east as we approached the capital city of the Southern Water Tribe on Uggi. The shimmering white landscape surrounding the city proper contrasted with the line of dark grey ships blockading the harbor.

"Something's wrong," I said. "Korra's not down there. I can feel Ulanaq's spirit energy, but not Korra's."

"Nobody panic," advised Tenzin. "Greed, Sloth, go check Ulanaq like we talked about. The rest of us will find Tanraq and find out where Korra is."

"Right," I said, grabbing and pocketing a tuft of Uggi's fur.

"What's that for?" asked Kaya.

"It'll let us find you quicker once we're done with Ulanaq," I said, taking out a glider staff and unfolding its wings with a quick gesture.

Sloth unfolded her glider staff and we hopped off Uggi. Loki trotted through the air after us as we glided toward the main government building. Neither Sloth nor I had switched back to heavy winter clothing, since there was a basic air bending technique for regulating the temperature of the air around you.

We landed on a balcony, Sloth and I folding our staves closed, and walked in. Ulanaq was seated at a desk going over papers and looked stressed. Sloth adjusted the dial on her Soul Bracelet once she had closed the door and no longer needed her air bending to keep warm.

"The two of you are air benders?" asked Ulanaq in surprise.

"He's the one," said Sloth. "Tenzin was right. He's trying to release Vaatu."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ulanaq.

"She can read your mind. You have no secrets from us," I said, taking a seat across from him. "Now, why don't you start by explaining to us what exactly you find appealing about ten thousand years of darkness?"

"All right. We'll drop the pretense," said Ulanaq, setting his papers aside and folding his hands together. "Korra's told me all about your unusual abilities, and you may prove useful."

Sloth clapped and transmuted a chair so she'd be at the same level as Ulanaq and I then hopped into it. "We're listening," said Sloth.

"The fact that you know Vaatu's name puts you in an elite group," began Ulanaq. "As I'm sure you know, Vaatu is the great spirit of darkness and chaos, the counterpart to Raava, the great spirit of light and order, the spiritual component that makes the avatar what she is.

"Ever since Avatar Wan sealed away Vaatu and closed the spirit portals, the world has been out of balance. By opening the portals and releasing Vaatu, we can begin to bring the world back into balance."

"What's so great about balance?" I asked. "Humanity's flourished in the time since things have been imbalanced."

"That's the problem," said Ulanaq. "Humanity has flourished, but it has done so at the expense of the natural world and without acknowledging the role of the spirits."

"So the human race has to die for that?" I asked. "There aren't any lion turtles for humans to go back into hiding on from just the spirits, even ignoring Vaatu."

"It's true simply unleashing Vaatu and throwing open the portals would be a disaster," said Ulanaq. "What I intend to do is merge with Vaatu the same way Wan fused with Raava. Wan gave Raava a human prospective. I can do the same for Vaatu as a dark avatar."

"And the current avatar?" prompted Sloth.

"While it would be ideal if she and I could come to an arrangement, working together to guide the world, I doubt she'd go along with it willingly. I have no intention of killing Korra, but if it becomes necessary, I'll simply extract Raava from her and slay the light spirit. Korra will survive, but she'd no longer be the avatar, and thus would no longer be a threat."

"Let's hear a little more about this new world you're going to make," I suggested.

"The first thing that will change is that humans and spirits will live side by side," said Ulanaq. "It will become impossible for humans to ignore the spiritual consequences of their actions with the spirits right there. Obviously, with spirits being immortal and humans mortal, there will be the temptation for the spirits to oppress the humans as they did during the age of Raava, so part of my task as the dark avatar would be to reign in those excesses."

"And humanity's state?" asked Sloth.

"Obviously, there will be cullings," said Ulanaq. "Many won't accept the new order and will fight to the death to preserve the old. Their deaths will be an unfortunate necessity to restore balance."

"What exactly do you want us to do?" I asked.

"Korra already opened one of the spirit portals," said Ulanaq. "Shortly after, she and I had a disagreement about the steps I was taking to secure the southern portal."

"You threw her father in prison on trumped up charges," corrected Sloth. "Mind reader, remember. Korra's against you now and you're hoping we can open the northern portal because you had no backup plan. What I don't understand is why we should let someone so petty and dumb that he'd sabotage his own plan like that become the all powerful ruler of the world."

"I think we're done here," I said, nodding to Sloth.

In an instant, Ulanaq was on his feet, blasting a jet of water at my chest from the ice wall behind him. Air bending emphasizes flexibility and evasion, and I had thousands of years worth of lessons drilled into me. I easily dodged the water jet by leaning sideways at ninety degrees. The chair splintered as I rolled, using air bending to assist the motion and sprinted into combat range on Ulanaq's left side. Sloth had already gotten into range on his right.

Ulanaq's hand gripped the hilt of his zanpakto, but he didn't have time to draw it from his sheath. Using the techniques we'd learned on Kyoshi Island, Sloth and I struck various pressure points, temporarily paralyzing Ulanaq. I took Ulanaq's sword.

"The hilt and guard have changed," I noted. "You've achieved shikai in only a few days. I'm impressed. It took me longer and I had a better idea what was involved."

"Guards are coming," reported Sloth. "What're we doing with him now that he's helpless?"

I pointed at Ulanaq's chest and extended my index finger to pierce him with it using a specific application of homunculus shape shifting abilities we called the Ultimate Spear. As I did so, the zanpakto in my hand faded and dissolved into nothingness.

"I've pierced his soul chain and soul sleep," I explained. "His spiritual powers have been destroyed. I don't think we need to kill him. Let's go link up with the others."

Sloth, Loki, and I jumped out the window, avoiding jets of high pressure water from Ulanaq's guards. Not bothering to look back, I took the tuft of Uggi's fur out of my pocket and inserted it into my handheld tracking device. I pointed and the two of us turned our gliders toward the mountains outside of town, Loki trotting through the air with us.

* * *

A small encampment made to blend in with the ice and snow had a dozen men and women acting as sentries. Uggi the sky bison was waiting outside a large tent. Sloth, Loki, and I landed near the tent. One of the sentries who'd seen us coming came up to greet us.

"We're glad to see you," said the young man. "You can head straight in to the command tent. Tanraq is expecting you."

"Ulanaq's working to free Vaatu," declared Sloth as we entered the tent to see Tanraq, Tenzin, Bumi, and Kaya standing over a map. "He wants to merge with Vaatu, become a dark avatar, and take over the world."

"So, it's true," said Tanraq, deflating a bit. "I'd thought my brother only wanted to take over the Southern Water Tribe. I never dreamed he'd do something like this."

"Ulanaq managed to get Korra to open the southern portal," I reported. "Both portals open during harmonic convergence means Vaatu's free. Both closed and he stays imprisoned. One portal open, I have no idea. We should get Korra to close the portal to be on the safe side."

"Korra left with her friends yesterday," said Tanraq. "They ran the northerners' blockade and headed for Republic City to request military aid for the south."

"That's gonna be a tough sell," said Bumi. "As far as the United Forces are concerned, this is a civil war and they're not going to want to pick sides."

"They'll change their minds pretty quick once they learn the stakes are the literal end of the world," I said.

"With the stakes literally the end of the world," began Tanraq, turning to me, "is there anything you can do? Anything you've held back from offering for fear we'd misuse it?"

"Lots," I admitted. "Where do you want to start? The unkillable army of soulless horrors, the bomb that can turn a city into a smoking crater, the various and sundry dark magics I could use to enslave humans and spirits alike?"

"How about, can you close the spirit portal?" asked Kaya.

"No idea," I said. "I'd have to see it up close. I have plenty of wards and barriers that would prevent things from just stepping through, but I have no idea what, if any, effect they'd have on harmonic convergence's energy getting through. It'd be a more sure thing for Sloth and I to just kill Vaatu."

"I thought we established killing Vaatu would just gradually corrupt the avatar spirit since he'd be report inside her," said Tenzin.

"Ordinarily, yes, but..." I held up the bracelet on my left wrist and showed off the five barred silver cross on it. "This is called a quincy cross. The quincies are a nearly extinct order of warrior monks who we studied under for a time. They're nearly extinct because their signature technique is to fire a spiritual arrow that irrevocably destroys the soul, preventing it from reentering the cycle of reincarnation. We could use it to snuff out Vaatu permanently and prevent him from resurrecting inside Raava, ending things right now instead of kicking the can down the road another ten thousand years."

"If destroying Vaatu once and for all is an option, do it," said Tanraq. "My men and I will aid you whatever way we can. Ulanaq's troops are defending the portal."

"I agree with Tanraq," said Tenzin. "Vaatu has been sealed away for ten thousand years. If there were negative consequences for eliminating him, we'd have seen them long before now."

"I'll go alone," said Sloth. "I can bypass the troops and I won't have to worry about accidental bending."

"You can't bend in the spirit world anyway," said Tenzin.

"You can't?" I asked.

"Well, using the portal it might be possible, but usually, when you enter the spirit world, you do it as a spirit and leave your body behind. Bending requires both body and soul," explained Tenzin.

"So, if I get out of my body, I won't be able to bend until I'm back in it?" I confirmed.

"I guess I won't need to go alone after all," said Sloth. "You should still leave me the killing blow. You don't need this world's ultimate evil in your bankai."

"In your what?" asked Kaya confused.

"Zanpakto develop unique powers based on their wielders," I explained. "One of my sword's powers is that it makes a copy of anyone I kill so they can be summoned later. If I finish off Vaatu, it'll mean carrying him around on some level for the rest of my life."

I carefully took off my bracers then separated by body and soul with an act of will. My homunculus body and Visored soul both made an air bending gesture and confirmed Tenzin's information. Now outside my body, my Visored self was visible only to Sloth, since the others present lacked any form of spiritual awareness. My Visored self looked identical to my default form except for the manner of dress. A black uniform of amestrian design with silver trim clothed my soul, layered with defensive enchantments that let it serve as a suit of armor. My zanpakto, Tsumi no Rensa, was in its sealed sword form at my hip. The pentagon shaped substitute soul reaper badge was clipped to my Visored self's belt.

Homunculus me couldn't see my expelled soul, but unhooked the bracelet bearing the quincy cross and tossed it in the air. Visored me caught it and used a simple unspoken spell to turn it back into invisible spirit matter before putting it on. Sloth stayed in her body, calling Loki to join us as she left with Visored me. Homunculus me was left behind to handle questions and explanations about what just happened.

"So are you still in there?" asked Bumi waving his hand in front of my face.

"I removed my soul and it's gone to help fight Vaatu," I explained. "When a human removes their soul, the body enters a deathlike state, but homunculi can function just fine without our souls. We'll synchronize memories when he gets back."

"I... you... I don't know what I was expecting," sputtered Tenzin.

"How long until we know if it worked?" asked Tanraq.

"Sloth and I will have apparated to the portal. We're probably fighting Vaatu now. They should be back within an hour at most unless something's gone wrong."

* * *

Sloth, Loki, and I appeared a short distance from the frozen forest we'd arrived in. With the portal open, a column of golden light reached from the center of the forest up into the sky. Dark spirits circled the column while an encampment of Northern Water Tribe soldiers were in the process of fortifying the ground level.

"How do you want to do this?" asked Sloth. "Quiet or loud?"

"You know, I was thinking quiet, but now that you bring it up, wiping out the defenses would be a fun warm up before we fight Vaatu. And it'd mean less opposition for Tanraq later. Thank you can take down the soldiers non lethally while I purify the dark spirits?"

"Loki's with you. Let's go!"

Sloth rushed the defenses while Loki and I flash stepped into the air. Most of the dark spirits were circling overhead but a few were among the human troops. Faster than the eye could see, I drew my zanpakto and cut down the dozen or so spirits mixed in with the soldiers while Loki transformed into his green scaled, gold maned chimera form and tore into the spirits above with teeth and claws.

Sloth had transformed into her magical girl form. Her combat uniform consisted of a black bodysuit, a red hooded cloak with a flamel on the back, and a golden circlet with her crimson Soul Gem set in the center of her forehead. She summoned bright red yo-yos in each hand, alternating between knocking out the soldiers with quick strikes to the head and entangling them with the strings. Her cloak fluttered behind her as she moved too fast for the soldiers to react to.

"So much for a warm up," I said as Loki and I landed next to Sloth now that all the dark spirits had been defeated. "A hollow swarm that size usually has at least one with an interesting ability that buys it a few seconds, but those spirits had nothing going for them."

"I'm a little disappointed too," said Sloth as she transmuted conventional ropes to replace the magical yo-yo strings currently binding the unconscious soldiers. "I probably didn't need to transform. Oh well. On to Vaatu."

Sloth strode toward the portal. I sheathed my sword and followed her, Loki at my side still in his chimera form. It turned out the column of light was the portal and stepping through transported us to a very different place.

It was a rocky area with a hundred small streams trickling between the rocks. The area was a large circular valley located between snowy mountain peaks. A swooping, curved like divided the area in two like a yin-yang symbol with a portal at each of the two dots. The southern portal we'd entered through was still a column of light reaching up toward the sky. The closed northern portal was a sphere of tightly knotted energy across the valley from us. In the center stood a gnarled old tree with an enormous hollow in its center and no leaves.

The three of us cleared the distance to the tree in a single step and saw that it was the size of a small mountain. Vaatu was visible in the hollow behind Avatar Wan's barrier. Suddenly, I felt my spirit energy pulse and I was forced to one knee. This wasn't Vaatu's spiritual pressure crushing me. He wasn't much stronger than an average gilleon class menos grande. The problem seemed to be coming from inside me.

"Greed, are you okay?" asked Sloth, reaching to help steady me.

I fired a crimson bala into her stomach, punching a hole clean through her body as my bone white hollow mask began to form over my face. I stared in horror, helpless as my body backhanded Loki hard into the tree when he turned to me whimpering. A hole opened in the center of my chest as I fought to regain control of my body. Eight eyes with yellow irises and black sclera opened under the eye holes in my spider like mask, but my perception of the outside world faded as I was drawn inward. The last thing i head was a roar from my mouth as I began charging a crimson cero.

The instant I arrived in my inner world, I lashed out, punching Araña in the face hard enough to crack his bone white spider mask and send him flying backward into a bookcase that promptly toppled.

"What is wrong with you?" I yelled at the embodiment of my hollow powers. "You take over my body and you use it to hurt Sloth and Loki?!"

"It wasn't me!" Araña called out, holding up his hands in surrender. "It's Vaatu!"

"This better be good," I declared as Tsumi no Rensa and Vaccine arrived and took up positions to surround my inner hollow.

"Vaatu's energies threw our soul out of balance," said Araña. "I'm not any more in control of our body than you are. It's like what happened during Visored training. Our body's mindlessly rampaging, lashing out at whatever's nearby only this time it's doing it in segunda etapa instead of just in resureccion."

"Here," said Tsumi no Rensa, offering me a book. "This is the one that covers what's going on in the outside world right now. You should at least be able to check up on Sloth and Loki until we can figure a way out of this."

Taking the offered book, I read the lines as they appeared on the page and gasped, "No."

* * *

Homunculus me was going over Tanraq's maps when Sloth's voice called out urgently from my pocket, "Greed!"

I took my silver pocket watch, decorated with the image of a Ravenclaw Eagle out of my pocket and flipped it open, seeing Sloth's face reflected in the magical communication mirror attached to the lid. She was in her pale skinned, black haired homunculus form with slitted, purple eyes. Her Soul Gem was visible on the golden circlet on her forehead. She was clearly upset and frightened.

"Sloth, what's going on?" I asked urgently as I tried to guess what could have gone wrong.

"Vaatu wasn't what we thought," said Sloth, her voice trembling. "He took you, Greed. I... I couldn't do anything to help you. You're still under his control."

"Slow down," I said in as soothing a voice as I could manage. "Whatever he did, we will fix it then we'll make him pay. Just calm down and tell me exactly what happened."

"We beat the guards at the portal, purified the spirits and tied up the soldiers. When we went into the spirit world, we found Vaatu sealed inside a giant tree. Wan's barrier was intact, but Vaatu somehow effected you. You hollowfied and went berserk, attacking me and Loki. You went straight into segunda etapa. You were too fast and too strong for us. You tore Loki's body in half and ate his soul. I only managed to survive thanks to all the defenses on my Soul Gem. I still barely managed to get out through the portal. You didn't follow me. You're still there with Vaatu."

"But you are okay?" I confirmed.

"Yeah, I'm okay," said Sloth. "I resurrected Loki once I was sure you weren't going to follow me out."

"The defenses there are still neutralized, right?" I asked. "We can fly Uggi over and pick you up."

"What are we going to do about you?" asked Sloth.

"We find Korra," I affirmed. "If Vaatu threw me out of balance, hopefully Raava can restore it."

"I'll wait here. I love you, Greed."

"I love you too, Sloth. I'll see you soon." I closed my watch and returned it to my pocket.

"Did I hear that right?" asked Kaya. "You went to kill Vaatu, but instead you went crazy and ate your dog?"

"It sounded like you were the only one effected that way by Vaatu's presence," noted Tenzin.

"Based on the fact that I hollowfied while berserking, I think I can explain why I was effected oddly," I said, leaving the tent and climbing onto Uggi's back with Tenzin, Kaya, Bumi, and Tanraq following. "One of the methods I used to modify my soul involved a kind of controlled infection with something that causes normal souls to turn into cannibalistic monsters."

"That seems like a bad idea," noted Bumi.

"Obviously, the goal is to get the monster powers without the whole soul cannibalism thing," I said. "It has a surprisingly high success rate, but Vaatu's powers must've thrown things out of balance."

"This doesn't have anything to do with those swords you gave Korra and Jinora, does it?" asked Tenzin dangerously.

"The zanpakto is a weapon designed to hunt hollows, the aforementioned cannibalistic ghosts. Hollows killed by a zanpakto are purified and turned back into normal souls. That's ll the connection there is," I swore. "There is no chance of this happening to Jinora."

"Listen up, men," ordered Tanraq to his gathered troops. "I'll be going ahead of the spirit portal to assess the situation. I need you to follow to assist with the prisoners and to help secure the portal."

"Whatever you do, don't actually enter the portal until I give the all clear," I said seriously.

* * *

Sloth and Loki were sitting together on a guard tower when we arrived on Uggi. Loki had reverted to his dog form, but Sloth was still in her magical girl combat outfit and still had her inhuman homunculus appearance. When they saw us approaching, both ran through the air to meet us halfway rather than wait for us to land.

Loki whimpered and whined, seeking reassurance from me while Sloth just grabbed hold of me and hugged me tight, starting to lightly sob. I put one arm around Sloth and kissed the top of her head, gently stroking Loki with the other hand, trying to reassure them both that things were going to be okay. That was hard when I wasn't completely convinced of that myself. Korra seemed like an obvious answer, but if it didn't work out, I might have to destroy my own soul, losing the unique spirits I'd developed relationships with forever. Assuming I could destroy it, given how potent and diverse its spiritual powers were compared to what I could muster without spirit energy.

Tanraq debarked and Tenzin turned Uggi north toward Republic City, where Korra had gone to request military aid against the northern invasion. I really hoped this plan worked.

* * *

Within my inner world, Tsumi no Rensa, Vaccine, Araña, and I were gathered around the book gradually filling in with the events happening in the outside world. Once Sloth had escaped the spirit world through the portal, our body had stopped attacking. Vaatu seemed to be able to exert enough influence on the animalistic consciousness running our body to designate friend and foe, but couldn't make it understand more complex instructions.

My segunda etapa form was humanoid unlike my spider centaur resureccion form. Aside from the mask and hole in the center of my chest that identified me as a hollow, the main aspects of my appearance that wasn't human were the eight eyes that looked out from under my fanged spider mask. In resureccion, I relied on the spinnerets on my arachnid abdomen to produce webbing, but in segunda etapa, I could generate it from any part of my body.

Once there was no one left to fight, our body had woven a web among the branches of the tree Vaatu was imprisoned in and settled in at the center to wait.

"I'm just glad Sloth made it out," I said to my inner spirits. "She'll have resurrected Loki and linked up with the other me."

"Eating Loki was a lucky break," noted Araña, drawing looks from the rest of us. "Look, like you said, Sloth made it out so your dog's okay. But he never showed up here. It means we're free to eat souls without the risk of ending up a gilleon."

"That knowledge will die with us if we can't find a way to free ourselves from Vaatu's influence before Sloth and Greed come back," said Vaccine. "Without a guiding intelligence, even all the power our body has in segunda etapa won't save it from those two once they're prepared."

"Speaking of a guiding intelligence," I said, "I figure our worst case scenario is that Vaatu gets out of his prison and tries to fuse with us. If he tries it, we're gonna need to be ready to drag him down here and gang up on him. We can't let him take control of our body."

* * *

By the time we arrived at Republic City, everyone had calmed down considerably. Republic City was a large port city. Two islands in the bay contained a large metal statue of Avatar Aang and a recently constructed air temple. Tenzin brought us in for a landing on Air Temple Island rather than landing in the city proper.

"Air Temple Island plays host to a number of guards from the Order of the White Lotus," said Tenzin. "Since they stopped operating as a secret society, they've offered aid and protection to the avatar. Hopefully, they'll be able to tell us where to find Korra."

"Since Greed can't bend without his soul, I'll give the Air Acolytes air bending while you find Korra," said Sloth.

"I'll take Loki and see if I can find Korra first," I said. "My spiritual senses may be gone, but Loki's should be able to find her no problem."

"Whoever finds her first calls the other," said Sloth, holding up her silver pocket watch with the Hufflepuff badger inscribed on the lid.

I headed off with Loki to board a ferry to the main part of the city. As the two of us stepped off onto the main land, I saw cars driving down narrow streets that didn't look like they'd been designed for automotive traffic. Police blimps hovered overhead occasionally dispatching a team of police officers via cable to a location on the surface.

Loki led the way to a gathering of men and women dressed in traditional blue water tribe colors. Candles were being handed out and people were sorting themselves out into lines. Korra and her polar bear dog Naga were near the front of the forming lines. Some people reached out to stop me from approaching the avatar. Their protests stopped in nervous confusion after I used the Ultimate Escape to pass through their bodies like they weren't even there.

"Korra, I need to talk to you. It's important," I said as Loki and Naga sniffed at each other.

"Greed?" asked Korra, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Avatar Korra, do you know this person?" asked one of the people who'd tried to stop me approaching her.

"I do," confirmed Korra before turning to me. "There's something I need to talk to you about too."

"Is it about Ulanaq being evil?" I guessed.

"You knew?" accused Korra.

I shook my head. "I didn't suspect anything when I left with Tenzin. As soon as I worked out his plan to plunge the world into ten thousand years of darkness, I rushed back to the south pole to try and stop him, but everything went wrong and now I need your help."

"Wait, what?" asked Korra.

"Ulanaq isn't just planning to take over the south," I said. "Opening the spirit portals was the first step toward freeing a primordial spirit of darkness and chaos called Vaatu."

"I thought he wanted the portals open so he could move troops directly from the north," said Korra. "Okay, I have a meeting with President Raiko tomorrow so I can ask him to send troops to help liberate the south. Can you come and help me make my case?"

I nodded. "Tenzin already knows the details. I think it'd help if he came too."

"I really should have listened to him," said Korra. Looking at the setting sun, she said, "This march in support of the south starts in just a few minutes. You can give me the details after."

Korra left riding Naga and I flipped open my pocket watch, saying, "Sloth," to activate the communication mirror. A moment later, her face appeared.

"I hope you have better news than I do," said Sloth.

"I found Korra," I said. "She's already got a plan to request military aid from the United Republic to deal with Ulanaq's troops."

"That's good, because after we left, Ulanaq marched his forces to the pole and retook the portal," said Sloth. "Tanraq made it out, but that's it for good news."

"It doesn't matter what Ulanaq does to fortify the portal," I said. "There's nothing he can set up that we can't just walk through. The only real threat is the other me, and Korra's the only thing we need to deal with that."

Suddenly, an explosion went off in the direction Korra had gone.

"Fuck. I'll call you back," I said, snapping my watch shut and running toward the now burning Southern Water Tribe cultural center.

* * *

Fortunately, no one was hurt. The cultural center had been closed at the time and none of the debris had hit any of the marchers. Korra was helping the firefighters put out the building using her water bending.

The blast had been timed to coincide with when the march came by. I could smell the accelerant that had been used. It was a professional job.

"Pouring water on it isn't the best way to put out the fire," I said to Korra when I caught up. "If you can form a think layer of ice between the fuel and the oxygen, you should be able to smother it instantly."

"How am I supposed to make ice if there's no water there to start with?" snapped Korra. "Water benders can't just create water."

"No, but fires do," I said. "The two primary outputs of most conventional fires are carbon dioxide and water vapor. The stuff gets created right where you need it. All you have to do is keep it there."

"All right," said Korra. "I'll give it a try."

Korra shifted into a wide stance, took a deep breath, and pressed downward with her palms. The flames across the building sputtered but reasserted themselves. It had almost worked, and Korra was too stubborn to give up. She repeated the gesture, holding it for a few seconds. The flames sputtered and died.

"Where did you learn that trick?" asked Korra.

"I got abducted by a serial killer once. One thing led to another and she was dead but the house was burning down around me. It was either figure it out or die. Funny story, it's sort of how Sloth and I met."

"So, the march is a bust," noted Korra. "You might as well fill me in on what happened."

We compared notes while we waited for Sloth to arrive. I'd given her basically the whole story by the time Sloth got there and noticed Korra wasn't carrying her zanpakto. I hadn't put in the Mad Eye so without my soul, spiritual objects like that would be invisible to me.

"I kept it with me for a while," said Korra. "Then I woke up one day and it was the size of a surf board. At the moment, it's propped up in a corner in Mako's apartment."

"A friend of ours named Ichigo had a similar problem," I said. "The size of the zanpakto is proportional to the size of its wielder's spirit energy. There are techniques for compressing your spirit energy and shrinking your zanpaktoto a more manageable side."

"That'd be helpful," noted Korra. "We should talk about it after our meeting with President Raiko tomorrow."

"We'll let you get some sleep and meet you outside the building with Tenzin," said Sloth. "Tenzin's offered us a room on Air Temple Island. I've set up our standard wards already. We should go get some rest too."

"Give me a ride back?" I asked, shape shifting into a large brown spider.

Sloth smiled, scooped me up, and put me on her head before unfolding her glider and taking to the air.

* * *

Author's comments:  
Vaatu messing with Greed's soul and triggering a rampage in his nearly unstoppable hollow form is one of the reasons I wanted to have them visit this world. Their original plan could have simply circumvented the risks of Harmonic Convergence, but Vaatu gaining some limited control of Greed's hollow form means the situation has gotten much, much worse thanks to their presence.


	6. Chapter 8: Defeating Vaatu

The Iron Sole Alchemist in the Benders' World (Chapter 8) Defeating Vaatu  
by Howlin  
(Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to any of the universes, places, or characters, and only claim the protagonist, Sloth, and Loki as my own creation. This is fan fiction, and I don't profit from it. Please don't sue me.)

* * *

Sloth, Tenzin, and I arrived at the presidential estate a little before Korra did. She arrived with a man sporting a thin mustache and a blue suit.

"This is Varrick, the one who helped arrange this meeting," said Korra by way of introduction.

"Don't worry about a thing," advised Varrick confidently. "I was a big contributor to his election campaign. Him and the other guy. Got to hedge your bets."

With that, we headed into the president's office. Raiko was a middle aged man with a thick mustache and glasses. There were photographers waiting inside to ambush Korra into a photo op with Raiko. She clearly wasn't comfortable about it, but sucked up her displeasure for the sake of the meeting.

Taking a seat,, President Raiko asked, "Now, how can I help the Avatar, the head of the Air Nation, and my most generous contributor?"

Cutting to the chase, Korra said, "Ulanaq's troops have invaded the south. We need you to send the United Forces to help."

"I'm very concerned about what's happening down there," said Raiko diplomatically, "but I don't think it's the Republic's place to interfere with internal Water Tribe matters."

"This isn't just an internal Water Tribe matter," declared Korra. "Ulanaq has designs on the rest of the world."

"Mr. President, the Republic is already involved in this conflict," argued Varrick. "The north attacked our cultural center last night."

Sloth eyed Varrick, shook her head and said, "The bombing is beside the point."

"I'm sorry. You are?" asked Raiko.

"My name is Sloth. This is my husband Greed. We have traveled between worlds and faced horrors you would not believe. Ulanaq is not merely seeking military conquest. He seeks to release Vaatu, the primordial spirit of darkness and chaos from where the first Avatar, Wan, sealed him away. When Vaatu is free, he will bring about ten thousand years of darkness that the human race will not survive. The only hope for this world is to stop Ulanaq now, before it's too late."

"I... What did I just see?" asked Raiko unnerved.

"I have the power to share thoughts and memories," said Sloth. "I showed you the things we've seen so you'll understand and believe."

"I do believe you," affirmed Raiko.

"So you'll help us?" said Korra hopefully.

"I'm afraid I can't send the United Forces to help you," said Raiko.

"What?!" said Varrick, Tenzin, Korra, Sloth, and I at the same time.

"As president, my first duty is to protect my people," said Raiko composing himself. "With a disaster of this magnitude on the horizon, the United Forces will be needed here to protect our people and help us weather the proverbial storm."

"There won't be a storm if you help us," declared Tenzin. "If we can't stop Ulanaq, the United Forces will be no defense against a spirit as powerful as Vaatu."

"Master Tenzin, while you may no longer be a member of Republic City's governing council, only a fool would question your record of wise advice and good judgement," said Raiko. "Even so, my mind is made up. This meeting is over."

The five of us were escorted outside, dumbfounded by Raiko's behavior.

"We're not licked yet," said Varrick firmly. "There are some things I need to take care of, but stop by my ship a little later on. We'll come up with something."

"In the meantime, let's see what we can do about your sword," I said to Korra.

* * *

Tenzin returned to Air Temple Island to consult with the White Lotus about our options. Sloth and I accompanied Korra to Mako's apartment where she'd left her zanpakto. As we walked, I took a glass eye out of my belt pouch.

"What's that?" asked Korra.

"I've been calling it, the Mad Eye, after its original owner, a wizard who's real name was Alistor Moody," I explained. "It's enchanted to let its user see through most forms of magical and mundane concealment. It'll let me see your zanpakto even though it would otherwise be invisible to me without my spirit energy."

"That sounds useful. How does it work? Ew," said Korra as my right eye shriveled up and vanished and I popped the Mad Eye into the empty socket.

"So, Korra, what do you know about Varrick?" asked Sloth.

"He's a business man fro the Southern Water Tribe," said Korra. "He runs a global shipping company that recently signed a deal with Future Industries. That's Asami's company. You talked to her on the radio."

"We did," confirmed Sloth.

"Right," said Korra. "Future Industries does manufacturing, cars, fork lifts, that sort of thing. Asami's father, Hiroshi, was involved with Amon and the Equalists. He made weapons for them. Airplanes, mechatanks, electrified gloves. Asami didn't have anything to do with it, and she even helped us stop her father and defeat Amon, but no one wants to do business with Future Industries because of what her father did."

"We aren't our parents," quietly affirmed Sloth.

"So, yeah, Asami came to the south pole to try and save her company by making this deal with Varrick," said Korra. "Then this war started and the first thing Ulanaq did was blockade the south, which basically crippled Varrick's business. He was one of the first and loudest advocates of going to war with Ulanaq."

"That explains a few things," said Sloth.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He hired a local gang called the Agni Kais to blow up the cultural center and blame it on the northerners to put pressure on Raiko to declare war," said Sloth.

Sloth and I didn't miss a stop, but Korra stopped walking as she digested that surprise. "How... do you know that?" asked Korra.

"I usually don't read people's minds out of curiosity," said Sloth. "After we missed what Ulanaq was up to, I decided to read everyone's mind during our meeting with Raiko. I didn't go deep, but Varrick thought about it when he brought up the bombing."

"I never thought he'd go that far," said Korra.

"It's a war," I said, shrugging. "You do what you have to do. He must've known Raiko would be stubborn and need some extra motivation. I doubt anyone could've predicted he'd be so stubborn the literal end of the world wouldn't move him."

"You're both okay with this?" asked Korra.

"It'd be different if anyone got hurt in that bombing," I said, "but he's willing to help us save the world. Raiko isn't. That makes for an easy choice."

* * *

Korra wasn't exaggerating about the size of her zanpakto. The sword leaning in the corner was twice the size of Ichigo's zanpakto before he achieved Shikai. Mako was seated on the couch when we came in.

"I heard what's going on with Ulanaq," said Mako. "Is he really out to destroy the world?"

"Yes," I said.

"And President Raiko refused to send troops," said Korra. "I can't believe the president is doing nothing. He doesn't even care!"

"Maybe he didn't believe you about the end of the world," suggested Mako.

"He believed us," affirmed Sloth. "He just thinks he's better off fighting off an apocalypse than preventing one."

"And even if he didn't believe us about Vaatu, there's still Ulanaq's invasion of the south," said Korra exasperated.

Picking up Korra's Zanpakto, I asked, "Did you want to do this here or at Air Temple Island?"

"What are you doing?" asked Mako.

"I'm going to try and help Korra compress her zanpakto down to a more manageable size," I said.

"This is going to involve meditation isn't it?" said Korra with dread.

"I'm afraid so," I said.

"Might as well go to Air Temple Island," said Korra.

"While we're there, I can check with Tenzin about our options," said Sloth.

As we were getting ready to leave, Korra said, "Oh, Mako, you were right about the bombing. It wasn't the northerners. Varrick hired the Agni Kais to do it to push Raiko into the war. Obviously, it didn't work."

"Wait, he told you that?" asked Mako.

"No. I read his mind," said Sloth.

"I can't take that to Bei Fong," lamented Mako.

"So find the evidence," said Korra. "At least now you know where to look."

* * *

Air Temple Island had a beautiful outdoor meditation area with a view of the bay. Korra sat cross legged with her overly large sword on the floor in front of her. The traditional pose called for the sword in the lap, but that would have to wait. Breathing the fresh sea air, I guided Korra through the visualization techniques I'd taught to hundreds of students over the past few years.

It started small, the blade contracting almost imperceptibly at first, but over the course of three hours, Korra successfully compressed the spirit energy in her blade to the point it was the size of a normal katana.

"You didn't do any of that for me?" confirmed Korra when she opened her eyes and saw the results.

"Even if it did work like that, my soul's still with Vaatu," I said. "This was all you. It's actually an important skill in spiritual combat, since a large, puffed up blade is less powerful than the same energy compressed into a denser blade."

"You two are done?" asked Sloth, who'd shown up at some point while we were meditating. "We have a plan."

Sloth led the way to where Tenzin, Bumi, Kaya, and a handful of blue robed White Lotus members were gathered around a world map. Once we entered, Bumi started off the explanations.

"The United Forces isn't the only military with a navy strong enough to confront the Northern Water Tribe's navy," said Bumi. "The Fire Nation navy dominated the seas for a hundred years of war thanks to a combination of superior technology, military discipline, and sheer weight of industrial capacity. It took the ocean spirit itself intervening to break a Fire Navy siege on the Northern Water Tribe."

"Wasn't that war decades ago?" I asked.

"After Fire Lord Zuko took over, he ended the war and ushered in a period of peace, but demilitarizing after a hundred years of war isn't easy," said Kaya. "And it wasn't as though they didn't have to worry about retaliation after the end of the war. They may be at peace, but the Fire Nation still maintains the single largest standing army of the four great nations."

"Fire Lord Izumi is a reasonable woman," added Tenzin. "She and her father have had good relations with the Avatar and the White Lotus. She won't dismiss us like President Raiko did."

"I guess I'm off to the Fire Nation," said Korra.

"No. I am," said Sloth. "You're going to the Eastern Air Temple."

"Don't look at me," I told Korra. "I was with you while they were planning this."

"While the Avatar's direct presence would be a huge boon for convincing the Fire Lord to help, Harmonic Convergence is drawing close nad there are other matters that require you more," said one of the White Lotus guards.

"So, what is the plan?" asked Korra.

"At the Eastern Air Temple, you can enter the spirit world through meditation," said Tenzin. "The Fire Nation will launch their attack at the same time you enter to draw Ulanaq's attention and draw away any troops he might otherwise send through the portal to oppose you."

"I'll be with the Fire Navy, and Greed and I will coordinate the timing using our communication mirrors," said Sloth.

"How's Korra going to survive me?" I asked.

Sloth handed me her Soul Gem ring and said, "Give it to her when she goes into the spirit world. I may not be able to match your raw output, but I can hold you off for a little while. Worst case scenario, long enough for her to close the portal from the inside. Best case scenario, long enough for her presence to bring you to your senses."

"Okay," said Korra. "Let's do this."

* * *

Since Ulanaq was clearly using dark spirits to sink ships near the south, Sloth took Loki along with her on the White Lotus ship. I was glad the plan didn't involve sending him into the spirit world with Korra so I wouldn't have to worry about the other me eating his soul a second time. Tenzin, Kaya, Bumi, Korra, and I took off on Uggi. Once Sloth's ring was more than a hundred meters from her, it glowed red and a new body formed for her.

"You guys have the weirdest powers," said Korra.

"I'd say we're normal where we come from, but we're totally not," said Sloth.

"I am proud of how far we've got making this normal back home, though," I said. "Visored homunculi are still rare, but the school's up and running training more without us needing to be there."

* * *

Pemma and her four air bender children were there to greet us when we arrived at the Easter Air Temple. After the initial greetings, Ikki took her older sister's hand and rushed up close to us.

"Korra, you've got to see what Jinora learned how to do," chirped Ikki enthusiastically. "It's amazing! Show them, Jinora."

"I need some room," said Jinora, taking her hand back and stepping back a pace. We all watched as Jinora drew her zanpakto, who's cross guard had changed to resemble a stylized sunburst, and said, "Shine through the darkness, Hikari!"

The blade of Jinora's zanpakto shone like a miniature sun, forcing me to squint, then look away. After a moment, the light faded and I opened my eyes again. There was still a faint glow from the blade.

"I can make it as bright as I went," declared Jinora. "I don't keep it that bright when I use it as a book lamp."

"A book lamp?" I asked incredulously. "Tsumi no Rensa somehow got it in his head I should only use his powers for battle. Congratulations on having a sword less stubborn than mine. And congratulations on achieving shikai."

"Is that what mine's going to do?" asked Korra.

Shaking my head, I said, "Each zanpakto develops unique abilities suited to the person who wields it. My shikai is a length of chain that I can add or remove links from at will. You'll find out what your shikai is when you're able to communicate with it and it tells you its name."

"While we wait for me to call, did you want to grant air bending to the acolytes here?" suggested Sloth.

"That sounds good," said Korra. "I could use something to keep my mind off everything that's going on."

"I'll make the preparations for our meditation into the spirit world," said Tenzin.

While I waited, I wandered around the temple grounds a bit, taking in the ambiance and trying not to dwell on the fact that once the operation got started, all I'd be able to do was wait and guard everyone's bodies. The Mad Eye let me see a number of small spirits playing in the area, supporting Tenzin's assertion that it was easier to cross over at this place. The area was beautiful and the colorful, harmless spirits added to the ambiance. It was unfortunate I couldn't bring out my inner spirits to see it.

* * *

I got the call that the Fire Navy was in position and Tenzin got started meditating with Korra. Sloth retreated into her Soul Gem ring and put it on Korra's finger with instructions to take it off as soon as she got to the spirit world. Unfortunately, after several failed attempts, it became clear Tenzin didn't know what he was doing. After being pressed, he admitted he'd studied the theory extensively, but had never successfully entered the spirit world.

It was Kaya who suggested Jinora might have better luck. Jinora asked some of the nearby spirits the others couldn't see for help and the spirits illuminated themselves in a kind of light that made them visible and audible to muggles. The spirits led us to an old meditation circle that had been neglected and overgrown with vines a short distance from the temple.

Tenzin attempted a cleansing ritual that disturbed a flock of small, bat like dark spirits that had been in the area. Jinora purified a few with her zanpakto, but there were too many for that to make a real difference. Korra left her zanpakto sheathed and used water bending to surround the spirits in tendrils of water. She then sent golden energy up through the water and purified the entire group of spirits at once.

"Your spiritual training has come a long way," commented Tenzin.

"I'm impressed," I agreed. "I didn't even know there was a way to purify spirits without a zanpakto."

"Ulanaq may be a horrible person, but his spirit powers are no joke," said Korra.

Unhappy with risking Jinora in the spirit world, Tenzin tried one last time, but it seemed that the techniques he'd studied would only be of use to someone with spirit energy of their own. Ultimately, there was no choice but to send Korra and Jinora on their own. When their swords and Sloth's ring vanished, I reported to the others that they'd entered the spirit world then called Sloth and let her know it was time to begin the attack.

* * *

Spirits had been coming and going. Vaatu seemed to be able to nudge the animalistic intelligence controlling my body in small ways, mostly designating beings nearby friend or foe. Fortunately, he couldn't do much more than that, at least from within his prison.

With no enemies, my body sat at the center of the web woven in the branches of the tree Vaatu was imprisoned in. My eyes were closed as I drifted between sleeping and wakefulness, waiting for something to disturb my web or for Vaatu to provide a new enemy.

In my inner world, one of us was reading aloud the book describing describing the present at all times while the other three of us gathered the books representing everything I knew about hollowfication, spiritual imbalances, and throwing off external influences. I looked up from my reading and listened carefully when Ulanaq entered the portal looking flustered and unkempt, as though he hadn't been able to rest recently. Water bending healers had closed the wounds I'd punched through his chest with my Ultimate Spear, but I was happy to confirm they hadn't been able to restore his destroyed spirit energy.

"It's too bad he doesn't have spirit energy, said Araña. "I mean, one slip up and we're going to eat him, even assuming Vaatu doesn't order us to when he's outlived his usefulness. I mean, I know even before his powers were destroyed he wouldn't have been as tasty and filling as Loki was, but according to Yami, souls with no spirit energy taste terrible."

Ulanaq approached Vaatu and said, "Harmonic convergence is weeks away, and scouts have reported a Fire Nation war fleet heading for the blockade. What's more, the dark spirits I've sent after their ships have all been killed by a dog that can run on air. I thought you said your new pet here killed that dog."

"Either there was always more than one, or they know a way to empower ordinary dogs," said Vaatu. "It hardly matters. Even if the Water Tribe falls, we can hold out here until Harmonic Convergence with the protection of my spider. The important thing is opening the remaining portal so this won't all be for nothing."

"I've received a message that might make that easier," declared Ulanaq.

Ulanaq vanished in a way that manifestly wasn't apparition or high speed movement. He vanished without a sound and without fanfare. A short time later, he returned the same way only now holding Jinora hostage with her own zanpakto at her throat.

"We should have told her you can't be harmed by your own sword," said Tsumi no Rensa, "outside special circumstances."

"Unfortunately, we have no way to communicate that," I huffed. "Obviously, the other me didn't teach her that while we were away, which is annoying, but with her here, it's more important than ever we get back in control."

* * *

Screams came from the direction of the air temple. Korra and Jinora had been in the spirit world for about an hour. Tenzin's family were all gathered around the meditation circle waiting for them to return to their bodies, but there were still Air Acolytes up at the temple. The few hours they'd had to practice their newly granted air bending obviously didn't leave them prepared to fight whatever had shown up. I stood up and took a step toward the temple.

"Wait," said Tenzin. "You don't have your bending or your spiritual abilities. Let one of us go."

I picked up a rock and crushed it to powder in one hand and said, "Without my soul, my powers are diminished. They aren't gone. Stay here and if whatever this is manages to get past me, be ready to grab the bodies and flee. Because all of you together aren't winning a fight against something that can take me out."

At the temple, I saw two androgynous water tribe teens, Ulanaq's son Desna and daughter Eska, riding a dark spirit and lashing out at the monks with their water bending. The monks hadn't learned enough air bending to fly and the spirit was keeping the near identical twins out of range of retaliation.

I jumped, using my superhuman strength to easily get the needed height. Jets of water flew at me from rivers and wells below as the twins tried to knock me off course and off the mountain peak the air temple was perched on. I used the Ultimate Escape to become intangible and let the water pass through me. Landing on the dark spirit's back, I took advantage of my enhanced speed to land a dozen chi blocking strikes on each of them before they had a chance to retaliate. I grabbed the temporarily paralyzed twins and hopped back down to the air temple.

"Can someone tie these two up while I deal with the spirit?" I asked the monks tossing the water benders in a heap.

The dark spirit lunged at me its jaws wide. I could see all the way down its throat as the spirit prepared to swallow me whole. I drew a rifle from one of my belt pouches that was bigger on the inside. I raised the gun to my shoulder, took aim, and pulled the trigger. A ball of pink energy shot out of the gun and down the spirit's throat and exploded inside. My kido gun wouldn't purify a dark spirit, but it would disrupt its physical form and force it to reincarnate in the spirit world. After confirming the spirit was gone, I slid the gun back into my belt pouch.

I dropped the bound and gagged water benders a bit outside the meditation circle and said, "Ulanaq sent his kids to try and stop us. It doesn't look like anyone was hurt. Too bad he obviously doesn't care about them or we could try and do a hostage exchange."

* * *

Sloth and Korra arrived on the scene riding on the back of a golden creature that was a blend of a dragon and a phoenix. Vaatu nudged the rudimentary consciousness my body and suppressed my impulse to blast the creature out of the sky with a cero. Korra hadn't noticed Ulanaq and Jinora, and took a step toward the open portal to close it while Sloth kept her eyes on me.

"Come on," I said, frustrated. "She's here. She's got the light spirit inside her. That should cancel out Vaatu's influence and let me take control."

Ulanaq revealed himself with Jinora's sword still held to the girl's throat, and ordered Korra to step away from the open portal and go open the other one.

"Her presence is improving our balance," reported Vaccine. "It just isn't enough. Raava's light is being filtered through Korra's emotions and she doesn't know how to unleash it."

"It isn't enough to put you back in the driver's seat," said Araña, "but it is enough for me to take over. Vaatu's been pushing us toward our hollow side. I say we show him what a real hollow's like."

"You won't get to keep the body," I said, staring down my darker instincts.

"Maybe not, but I'll have it long enough to make Vaatu regret bringing me out," declared Araña as he vanished, leaving Vaccine, Tsumi no Rensa, and I to watch and wait.

In the outside world, Ulanaq's threats were interrupted by a boom of soinido as Araña appeared behind him. Slowing down just enough to make sure could see what was going on, Araña tore off Ulanaq's right arm. Ulanaq stared in shock at the blood spurting out of his shoulder as Araña casually discarded the limb and gripped Jinora's zanpakto, walking around to in front of them.

"Threatening her with this wasn't very smart," said Araña. Then he tossed the sword at Jinora, impaling her through the chest all the way to the hilt.

Jinora and Korra stared at where Jinora'd been stabbed. Sloth took a step forward.

"Greed?" she asked.

"The boss couldn't make it because someone can't be bothered to learn to control her powers," said Araña gesturing at Korra. "He sent me instead."

"You stabbed Jinora!" yelled Korra.

"A zanpakto is a part of its owner's soul," said Araña, rolling all eight eyes. He grabbed the hilt and roughly yanked out Jinora's zanpakto. Placing it in her stunned hands, he said, you can't be cut by your own zanpakto. You can be cut by someone else's though."

Araña grabbed Ulanaq's bleeding shoulder and pulled him to the side to show off where the blade that had passed harmlessly through Jinora's chest had stabbed Ulanaq in the stomach. Once he'd shown off Ulanaq's gut wound, he moved his hand revealing he'd halted the bleeding Ulanaq's shoulder with a blob of webbing secreted from his palm. Using that blob as a starting point, Araña spun Ulanaq and quickly cocooned him then tossed the cocoon up into the web among the tree branches.

"I want to talk to Greed," said Sloth, forming a yo-yo in her hand and advancing on Araña threateningly.

"We both know you can't back up that threat," said Araña. "Last time, you ran away when you had your homunculus powers and this body was just lashing out mindlessly."

Araña leaned to the left, contemptuously dodging the yo-yo Sloth threw at his face. A second yo-yo, he didn't bother to dodge was aimed at the center of his chest. Sloth poured extra magic into that attack, punching through the layered shield spells on my uniform and passing straight through the empty hole in my chest.

"Did you forget I have a hole in my resureccion forms?" asked Araña.

"No, but it looks like you forgot what I can do with it." Sloth dissolved her yo-yo inside my hollow hole revealing a small black cube concealed at its core.

Araña screamed in rage as the black cube generated an artificial negaccion field and sealed our body inside a newly created pocket dimension.

"You let your guard down," I said to Araña. "Why did you think it was a good idea to get into a pissing match with Sloth after she's had days to get ready for this? I thought you were supposed to be partly made of my survival instincts."

"Shut up," said Araña. "This cage can't hold a hollow with my spirit energy for very long."

"And she knows that," I said. "Do you think this five minute time out is the nastiest surprise she's got prepared? This was a warning shot. Take the hint and back down."

"Feel free to swap back in," declared Araña. "The negaccion field has us cut off from outside energies. Vaatu isn't unbalancing us here, but once we get back out there, you still won't be able to stay in control."

"And this is why I'm in charge no matter who runs the body," I said. "You can use all my powers when you're acting as the primary soul. Use forced manifestation to bring me out. That way Sloth won't kill us."

Pressing against the dimensional walls of our prison, Araña broke through and stepped back into the spirit world where Korra and Jinora were embracing and Sloth was waiting lazily tossing one of her yo-yos. Vaatu was still sealed in his tree behind Wan's barrier, impotent to do more than issue threats.

"Are you ready to play ball?" asked Sloth confidently.

"Fine. Here he is," said Araña. He reached down and pulled, and I found myself yanked out of my inner world and manifested as a spirit. "In fact, let's bring everyone out." Vaccine and Tsumi no Rensa manifested on either side of me.

"Greed?" confirmed Sloth.

"I'm here," I said, scooping her up in a tight hug.

"Now, we can leave, close the portal behind us, and you'll be trapped for another ten thousand years, Vaatu," said Korra.

"We aren't killing him?" I asked.

"I am the darkness," declared Vaatu. "To hate me is to nourish me. To fight me is to give me strength. Sealing me away was always the best you could hope for."

"Trying to kill Vaatu is what got you into this mess in the first place," said Korra. "We walk away and we win."

"Not good enough," said Araña.

"Vaatu took over our body and made us attack those we care about," said Vaccine.

"He made us eat our dog," I said.

"Even from within his prison, his corruption spreads," said Tsumi no Rensa.

All together, the four of us said, "He dies."

Araña tossed the sword at his hip to Tsumi no Rensa, who immediately released it to its shikais form as a length of chain. Vaccine caught my quincy cross and manifested a white long bow with light blue markings. Araña tossed me my substitute soul reaper badge which I used to focus my fullbring.

I was briefly wrapped in a ring of green flames as my fullbring activated. When the flames cleared, I was wearing a black bodysuit with bone white bands giving the impression of ribs while providing additional armor. My right arm was covered in solid black and red armor while the armor over my left arm was red and white. A curved short sword with my badge as its cross guard was in my right hand.

"How are you even going to attack him?" asked Korra. "Even if I open the other portal, he won't be able to break loose until Harmonic Convergence."

"There's more than one way to break a barrier," I said, gathering blue spirit energy along the edge of my blade. Swinging at Vaatu, the gathered energy launched as a destructive blast. As the energy released I called out the technique's name to boost its power. "Getsuga tensho!"

A line of bark was stripped away from the enormous ancient tree on either side of the hollow that formed Vaatu's prison. While the tree was only scarred by the mountain leveling force behind my attack, Avatar Wan's barrier shattered. My getsuga over penetrated, cutting Vaatu in half before being stopped by the bulk of the tree. The lower half of Vaatu's kite shaped body dissolved into nothingness, but his upper body flew gracefully out of the tree, his mass rearranging itself so he was whole again, just at half his original size.

"I thank you for my freedom," declared Vaatu. "Now, I will take my leave."

Vaatu began to vanish the same way Ulanaq had, but Tsumi no Rensa wrapped a length of chain around him and physically pulled him back before he could fully vanish.

"Spirit of darkness, you are going nowhere," declared Tsumi no Rensa.

"I was going to be generous," said Vaatu. "But if you insist, I shall simply kill Raava now and you can go back to being my attack dog."

Vaatu fired a purple beam from his core at Korra and Jinora. The former moved to shield the later with her body. Araña interposed himself, swallowing Vaatu's beam and regurgitating it back at the darkness spirit, blasting away another chunk of Vaatu's mass.

"Don't think I've forgotten how you got me blamed for this mess," said Araña who followed it up by blasting Vaatu's tentacles off with a dozen shining red balas from his fingertips.

As he regenerated his tentacles, Vaatu lashed out at us. A flicker of green bringer light under my feet let me close to melee range with Vaatu. I contemptuously cut off the tentacles he lashed out at me with as I gathered disks of energy on the fingertips of my left hand. Closing a fist, I punched Vaatu, calling out the technique, "La Muerte." Vaatu's body slammed into the ground, and below him, the earth crumbled apart in the shape of a stylized skulls.

As wisps of Vaatu disolved away, Tsumi no Rensa flash stepped next to me and said "You might have overdone it."

"No, it looks like I judged it about right," I said, pointing at the mouse sized Vaatu that was pulling itself out of the skull shaped crater.

Four blue quincy arrows struck the ground around Vaatu as Vaccine's discouragement from trying to escape. Araña picked up the spirit and stuck him in the center of a hastily woven web between two rocks.

"Slight problem," I said to the others. "My quincy bangle is in my other body's utility belt. Sloth, did you bring yours?"

"The other me's bringing it," said Sloth. "She should be arriving any minute now."

"That was unbelievable," said Korra. "You were toying with Vaatu."

"What was it Aizen said?" mused Tsumi no Rensa, staring at a particular link in his chain. "It's difficult to step on a bug without crushing it. We had to weaken Vaatu without delivering the finishing blow and that took some calibration."

It really was only a few minutes before Sloth's homunculus self arrived through the portal. After merging with her other self and putting her ring back in her bracelet, Sloth took out a silver wrist band with a small, four barred cross dangling from a chain attached to it. She held the device out to Korra.

"This is a quincy bangle," explained Sloth. "It will allow anyone who wears it to temporarily use quincy powers, most importantly their soul destroying arrows. I think you deserve to be the one to end the cycle once and for all."

"How do I use it?" asked Korra.

"Allow me," said Vaccine, stepping forward to instruct Korra, correct her aim and form, and ensure her arrow would fly true.

Korra's one and only shot was fired from close range on a bound and stationary target. Vaatu disintegrated into nothingness and I could feel the balance in my soul right itself. Vaccine, Tsumi no Rensa, and I vanished back into my inner world and I retook possession of my spiritual body and my full powers from Araña.

I released my resureccion form, my hollow hole closing and my mask crumbling away. I summoned my quincy cross, my zanpakto, and my substitute badge, putting them back where they belonged. Then I drew my wand and used it to mend my shirt. Sloth stepped out through the portal and brought Loki in. I dropped to my knees and petted the dog.

"I am so sorry about what happened, boy. I would never hurt you on purpose, and I'm going to make this up to you."

"I'll get Ulanaq down and bring him to Tanraq," said Sloth, hopping up onto the web. "You can close the portal once Loki, Greed, and I are out."

"Maybe I shouldn't," said Korra contemplatively.

"What do you mean, Korra?" asked Jinora.

"I mean, maybe Ulanaq was right about some things," said Korra. "What if Avatar Wan made a mistake separating humans and spirits? Vaatu's gone for good. I could leave both portals open and give humans a chance to try living side by side."

"This is your world," I told Korra. "If you think that's what's best, that's what you should do. Opening the northern portal would be pretty convenient for me, since I still need to go to the north pole to deal with my water bending."

* * *

Author's comments:  
The four on one fight against Vaatu with all of Greed's inner spirits was fun to write. Each of them having a separate reason to want to stick it out and kill Vaatu after what happened with them all agreeing he dies together was a bit I'm particularly fond of.


	7. Chapter 9: Mastering the Four Elements

The Iron Sole Alchemist in the Benders' World (Chapter 9) Mastering the Four Elements  
by Howlin  
(Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to any of the universes, places, or characters, and only claim the protagonist, Sloth, and Loki as my own creation. This is fan fiction, and I don't profit from it. Please don't sue me.)

* * *

The technique Korra and Jinora used to enter the spirit world left them still connected to their bodies on some level, so they were able to snap back and wake up back at the air temple. After quickly confirming everyone was all right, the two of them told the story of their journey into the spirit world.

They'd gotten separated early on, with Sloth having managed to keep hold of Korra, but Jinora having been swept away by a whirlpool. Korra had a bizarre experience where she reverted to a child, met a wise old man, had a tea party with spirits, and learned how her emotions could effect the spirits and the spirit world for good or ill due to her connection to Raava.

Jinora found her way to a great library with the help of a spirit guide. The proprietor of the library, an owl spirit named Wan Shi Tong, betrayed her to Ulanaq, willingly supporting freeing Vaatu without having been corrupted into a dark spirit himself. He'd apparently developed a grudge against humans for misusing the knowledge in his library and thought ten thousand years of darkness would be a fine thing, since the immortal spirits would be around after but the humans would have died out.

As their story came to a close, Sloth, Loki, and my soul arrived at the temple, having decided to cover the distance overland with flash step. We would have apparated, but the only one of us trained in apparition was also the one who'd never been to this particular temple. My homunculus self and my soul merged and synchronized our memories. Once or memories synchronized, my soul separated from my body again, a hard look in both mes' eyes.

"Greed, what's wrong?" asked Sloth.

"Homunculus Greed can fill you in," said my visored self as I snapped my fingers and tore open a hole in the air, revealing the swirling black garganta between worlds. "I have a loose end to tie up."

While my homunculus self explained, my visored self stepped through the garganta into the spirit world. It didn't take long for me to find the building Jinora described. Massive towers extending down as the great library hung upside down in the canopy of an enormous forest. I formed footholds of compressed spirit energy as I walked in midair up to the nearest entrance. Gravity reversed as I stepped inside, orienting with the building. Fortunately, my footholds worked just as well in any orientation, so I avoided falling. Hopping and doing a flip in midair, I landed on the floor and took a look at the spirit library. There were books and scrolls and bits of pottery everywhere. Shelf after shelf, wing after wing, the sheer amount of accumulated knowledge was staggering.

As I looked around, a large inky black creature flew overhead. It had a long, sinuous body like a serpent and supported itself on feathered wings. As it landed, it seemed to pour itself into the form of a white faced barn owl.

"Wan Shi Tong, I presume," I addressed the spirit.

"Why have you come to my library?" asked the spirit.

"Do you recall a human girl named Jinora?" I asked. "Brown hair, about eleven years old, air bender clothing?"

"What of her?" asked Wan Shi Tong imperiously.

"You betrayed her to Ulanaq, who tried to murder her," I said. As I did, I adjusted my spiritual pressure. Wan Shi Tong collapsed to the ground, unable to remain upright in his owl posture and pressed flat in his winged serpent appearance.

"What... did you just do?" choked out the spirit, barely able to breathe.

"Ordinarily, my spiritual pressure is so high that it becomes imperceptible to most souls and spirits," I explained. "I've deliberately lowered my output to a level you can perceive. I've avoided crushing you entirely so we can have a little chat before you die."

"You may be powerful, but you are clearly ignorant of the spirits," declared Wan Shi Tong, trying to regain some of his dignity though eh still couldn't raise himself off the ground. "Spirits are immortal. You cannot kill us."

"It's a rare art," I admitted, channeling my spirit energy through the five barred quincy cross on my left wrist and forming a solid long bow that was white with blue markings. "An arrow from this bow will destroy you utterly. I already had Avatar Korra test the technique on Vaatu."

"Why are you doing this?"

"I already told you. You betrayed a human girl to a man who tried to murder her. No spirit is so powerful or important that they can get away with that." I drew my bow, forming a glowing blue arrow from the ambient spirit particles in the air, then released. The arrow struck Wan Shi Tong's head and the spirit was unmade.

A group of fox spirits crawled into view when I let my spiritual pressure return to normal.

"Did you hear that? Did you understand?" I asked. They nodded their heads. "It would be a shame if the other spirits didn't hear about Wan Shi Tong and made the same mistake."

The fox spirits scattered. Glancing around the empty library, I checked the number of red stones I'd brought with me. I touched a bookshelf and used the red stones in my pocket to absorb the knowledge in these books directly. I burned through a lot of red stones consuming Wan Shi Tong's library, but I had come prepared and had plenty to spare.

One wing of the library had been burned to ashes, the wing focused on the Fire Nation. There was a time such a sight would have filled me with despair for all the knowledge lost. Now, I had the power to restore it. I contained the entire wing inside a translucent, orange, cube shaped barrier and used the space time reversion kido I'd learned fro the visored Hadji to turn back the clock inside the barrier to before the books were burned. After assimilating the newly restored wing's knowledge, I opened a garganta and returned to the air temple and my body. I put my bracers back on.

"Wan Shi Tong is dead?" asked Tenzin.

I nodded. "With the portals open and spirits and humans living alongside one another, they need to understand they can't harm humans without consequences."

"I thought you couldn't deliver the killing blow," said Korra. "That's why we had to wait for Sloth to show up with that bracelet."

I took out my zanpakto and said, "Bind, Tsumi no Rensa," transforming the sword into a length of chain. "Each link represents someone I've killed. Each link can temporarily transform into the person it represents. That's why I didn't dare bet he one to kill Vaatu. This link is Wan Shi Tong."

"That's a pretty morbid ability," commented Korra.

I sealed Tsumi no Rensa back into sword form and said, "There's a lesson to it. I have to reconcile with my enemies sooner or later, and usually killing isn't worth it. Eventually, I'll have to come to terms with Wan Shi Tong. I can delay it, but I can't run away from it."

"What happened to his library?" asked Jinora.

"It still stands," I verified. "I assimilated all the information in it, but the process was nondestructive. All the books are still there without a letter out of place. I even restored a section that'd been burned before I left."

"Anything good in there?" asked Sloth.

"Tons," I affirmed. "Histories spanning tens of thousands of years, details about the spirits and spirit world it would take lifetimes to discover, instructional manuals for bending styles no one has practiced for centuries. The zoology texts covering anatomical details of all the hybrid animals in this world are giving me so many ideas for improving chimera creation and even giving Loki some upgrades. Here, let me give you an imprint."

I clapped my hands then touched the oroboros tattoo on Sloth's back. The mark glowed blue for a moment and Sloth smiled.

"You weren't kidding about how much was in there," she said. "And you threw in the water bending skills you picked up at the North Pole. Nice."

"If you have all those bending manuals, why are you still wearing your bracers?" asked Bumi.

"I could probably work out the styles by performing the exercises in the manuals, but that would take time," I explained. "I did work out the next two stops I need to make. Unfortunately, neither of them are on the way, so I'll need to wait until after we finish our tour of the air temples."

"You don't have to come," said Korra. "I can go with Tenzin and finish granting air bending to the Air Acolytes."

"I appreciate the offer, but I still need to finish teaching you and Jinora the basics of spiritual combat. This trip is a good time for that," I said. "Besides, now that I can access my spirit energy safely, it's a lot less urgent that I master the elements."

* * *

We spent about a week at each of the remaining air temples. Korra and Jinora both managed to pick up basic spiritual pressure sensing as well as basic flash step. After a lot of meditation, Korra realized that Raava had merged with her zanpakto spirit. Her shikai was a luminous blue white whip in the form of one of Raava's tentacles.

My inner spirits got to come out and see the beauty of the air temples now that I knew how to do that safely. When I wasn't training Korra and Jinora or just relaxing and taking in the scenery, I was working with Sloth on the best way to improve Loki's chimera form.

Our changes were subtle. Slight improvements in bone and muscle density, adjustments of a number of joints, and some small metabolic tweaks. The result, however, was to eliminate the strain and discomfort of his chimera form that meant he only used it for combat. The trigger remained the same, transforming him when he had his hackles up, and changing him back when he relaxed, but the experience should be less uncomfortable, and it wouldn't be a problem if battle damage to the array tattooed beneath his fur and scales left him mode locked for a prolonged period of time.

On the day of harmonic convergence, we were at the Western Air Temple, the final stop on Tenzin's planned journey. All of t he work that I needed to do was done, and I was enjoying what I planned on being my last day here with a friendly water bending spar with Korra. My technique was better, but Korra had access to her spirit energy, giving her better strength, speed, and reflexes, largely evening us out.

I'd just raised a wall of water and hardened it into ice to block one of Korra's water jets when I felt the planet's energy shift. The shift supercharged Korra's spirit energy and her jet shattered my ice shield and slammed me hard against the far wall. I had a couple of cracked ribs from the hit and some small cuts where ice shards hit me, but I was still conscious.

"Are you okay?" asked Korra, surprised at the force of her own blow.

"I've been hit with worse,: I said, bending a blob of water out of the fountain we were using as our source and wrapping it around my hand.

"That was harmonic convergence starting, wasn't it? I can feel my energy being multiplied."

Faint blue light emanated from the blob of water in my hand as I applied water bending healing techniques. I rubbed the glowing water over my cuts and they vanished. "My spirit energy's getting the same boost. Doesn't mean anything with all the seals I'm using, but I can definitely feel it too."

"I guess you're gonna have to drop those seals if you wanna keep sparring," said Korra smugly.

"Like I'd need to," I said with a confident smirk. I'd pressed the water blob against my side and could feel my broken ribs mending and internal damage vanish. "Your boost caught me by surprise is all."

I stepped up my game to prove I wasn't bluffing, opening our next round with eight ice tipped tentacles attempting to spear her from different angles. After dodging my onslaught, she wrested control of one of my tentacles and used the end closer to me to try and cut me. Her high pressure water knife was too fast for me do dodge physically, so I iced the floor under my feet and yanked myself along it. I raised a vision obstructing mist then zigzagged on fresh pathways of ice to confuse Korra on my location. She forced the mists to precipitate and clear just in time to see my water jet rocketing in at her stomach. It was a clean hit so we both stopped fighting and shook hands.

The energy from harmonic convergence faded after the planets moved out of alignment. That excitement over, Sloth and I thanked everyone for having us, unfolded our gliders, and headed out with Loki. Our destination was the birthplace of earth bending, the ancient city of Omashu.

* * *

Sloth, Loki, and I had been traveling for half a day when we landed to set up camp for the night. We'd chosen a nice spot on the beach on the Earth Kingdom's west coast. After transmuting some grass and leaves into food and a tent, I decided to use water bending to get us something o drink. I shifted the state of a portion of ocean water from liquid to gas, causing the dissolved salt and impurities to precipitate out. Then I shifted the now purified water vapor back into a liquid.

"Always playing with your new toys," said Sloth with an amused smile.

"Yep," I agreed shamelessly, returning her smile.

"So, now that we're away from Korra, Tenzin, and the others, what's our plan for blood bending?"

"Blood bending was developed relatively recently, and Wan Shi Tong stopped noting human innovations in his library during Avatar Aang's time," I summarized. "It was developed by a Fire Nation prisoner named Hama originally from the Southern Water Tribe. The practice was outlawed quickly and it was never taught openly."

"We have the general gist of what's involved," noted Sloth. "Using water bending on a living creature to control their body like a puppet. We could re-derive it from first principles."

"Hama's version required the full moon to work. A handful of people could do it without the full moon, all part of the same family, but whether that's because of a freak mutation or just because they were the only ones who tried to train and refine it is an open question. It can't hurt to spend full moons working on it ourselves until another opportunity presents itself."

"We do have an advantage no other water bender has," said Sloth, taking out her pocket watch. "They only get three days a month of full moons to work on blood bending. We could make the full moon last as long as we want until we're expert blood benders."

"Good point," I acknowledged. "The next full moon is a couple days after we visit Omashu. From there, we'll be island hopping to the Fire Nation. We should find plenty of animals to practice on when the time comes."

* * *

We made good time, arriving at Omashu a couple days later. Wan Shi Tong's library had pictures and descriptions, but it couldn't compare to seeing this marvel of engineering and urban planning for ourselves. The city was structured like an enormous pyramid with heavy stone carts constantly running along tracks between levels with the aid of earth benders. The carts served a sophisticated mail delivery system that allowed the city's various businesses to coordinate better than any city on the planet, and had made the city an economic powerhouse for centuries.

"State your purpose in the city," instructed one of the guards as we approached the gate.

"We're pilgrims, come to visit the birth place of earth bending," I said.

"You may enter," he said after glancing over the three of us.

We stepped through the gates into a bustling, thriving metropolis. A large number of street vendors were concentrated near the gate and immediately called out to us hawking their wares. One vendor called out to Sloth.

"Little girl, try some jenomite. Best rock candy in the Earth Kingdom. One piece will last you a lifetime."

The vendor's cart was filled with blue and green crystals. He was holding out a fist sized blue crystal, and we saw it grow before our eyes, adding a full inch to its length.

"How does it do that?" asked Sloth. "Is it pulling water vapor and carbon dioxide from the air to make sugar the way plants do? Is it really some kind of plant? Even if it is, how does it grow so fast?"

"The books mentioned jenomite was called creeping crystal because of its extraordinarily fast growth, but I thought it would need a specific environment," I said. "I didn't think it would grow like that just sitting in your hand. We'll take one of each color."

"A wonderful decision, sir," said the candy vendor, taking out two small crystals. "That will be fifty yuons."

"I don't have any local currency," I said. "Will you accept the candy's weight in gold?"

He happily accepted my gold bar and gave me some coins in change along with the jenomite. The books were clear it was safe to eat, despite its odd properties, and licking it tasted just like sugar. The thumb sized crystals had grown to the size of apples by the time we'd wandered our way to the oldest part of the city where I'd need to perform my ritual to master earth bending.

"It's not drawing in heat. It keeps growing even when I keep sunlight off it. The only thing that stops it from growing is pressure. It won't push things aside to grown, so even a thin paper bag can keep it contained to a certain size," Sloth reported on her experiments with the crystal.

"The mass and energy have to be coming from somewhere," I said as I set out my pensive, substitute soul reaper badge, and wand.

"They don't," said Sloth. "I'm not saying it's likely, but we know from how Soul Gems work, there are exceptions to the law of equivalent exchange. I don't know whether I'd laugh or cry if I found out the key to reversing entropy was being sold by a street side candy stall."

I performed my ritual, removing my bracers, turning my badge into a sword that I stabbed the ground with, creating a false past, using my wand to draw out the memories of that false past and leave them in the pensive, stabbing the ground again to unmake the false past, returning the memories in the pensive to my head, then putting my bracers back on.

"We'll look into it in detail while we travel," I said as I gathered up my things. Then I clapped my hands and patted her on the back, causing her oroboros mark to glow briefly. "How, you're a master earth bender."

"Only one element to go," said Sloth. "Can I guess where you want to go for it?"

"The Lost City of the Sun Warriors," I said as we walked. "Supposedly home of the First Fire, the same flame kept continuously burning since the discovery of fire itself. They may have died out, but they were the longest continually active group of fire benders in history."

"And Wan Shi Tong's maps show us right where the 'lost' city is," said Sloth smiling.

We'd only just started walking down the road away from the city, intending to hold off on using our gliders until we were out of view, when a group of five men came out of hiding among some rocks at the side of the road.

"I get the feeling someone who slaps a gold bar on a candy counter and doesn't bother to count the change probably has more than one," said the man in the center of the group. "Hand over what you're carrying if you don't want to get hurt."

"Bandits," I said with a smile glancing down at Sloth.

"Just our luck," she said, returning my smile with a smirk of her own.

"Let's make this at least a bit of a challenge," I suggested. "Just earth bending. Loki, stay."

"No area effects either," stipulated Sloth. "We have to take them down one at a time."

"Hey, are you listening to us?" demanded the bandit leader. "Hand over your valuables now!"

Sloth used her glider staff to open things up by affixing a softball sized rock to one end, spinning three hundred sixty degrees, and launching the rock into the leader's stomach, doubling him over and knocking him out. I vanished into the ground, popping up at the bandits' flank. As I came up, I levitated a torso sized boulder with one hand and sent it flying at one of the bandits with a punch from the other hand. He didn't see it coming and was bowled over, taking him out of the fight.

The remaining three bandits, recognizing they'd underestimated us, all hurled boulders, two at me and one at Sloth.

Sloth did a simple dodge, popping onto, then out of, the ground before gesturing with one hand to cause the earth to swallow her opponent up to his neck. I blocked the boulders aimed at me with two simultaneous wrist strikes that reduced them to powder. At the same time, I stomped, causing a column of earth to emerge from the ground at a forty five degree angle and hit one of the bandits in the bread basket, deflating him and causing him to collapse doubled over on the column.

The remaining bandit tried to turtle up, raising earth walls on all four sides. Sloth and I shared a look and used earth columns to launch ourselves over his walls to drop down inside his shelter from above. He tried to knock one of us out of the sky with a baseball sized rock, but I put it into orbit around me and launched it back at his head. He was staggered from my hit, and Sloth punching the ground upon landing to make it quake finished the job of knocking him on his ass.

"I surrender!" he called out, holding his hands up over his face as if to ward us off.

I levitated some pebbles and fused them into a pair of manacles to bind his hands behind his back as I said, "That was fun."

"This is what I was looking forward to on our vacation," agreed Sloth, taking down the walls. "Helping with the spiritual stuff was important, but this is way more fun."

We gathered up our defeated opponents, bound them, and marched them back to the city. Thee guard at the gate looked over our prisoners as we approached.

"These men tried to rob us," I explained.

"You've done the city of Omashu a great service," said the guard, taking custody. "If it were up to me, we'd pay you a bounty for helping protect our roads like this, but the Earth Queen's taxes barely leave us enough funds to run our city government."

"We're just glad we could help," I said, waving him off.

We set out again, and I looked down at Loki trotting at our side.

"You wanted to join in, didn't you, boy?" I said. "We got you spirit energy so you wouldn't get left out and now the same spirit energy means you're so strong you can't help against normal people. Don't worry. We'll fix that."

* * *

Creating a new collar that sealed Loki's spirit energy like my bracers sealed mine was the work of a couple hours that evening after we set up camp. The tricky part was working out a way to turn it on and off so Loki could access his spirit energy in an emergency. In the end, I settled on a voice control, with Sloth or I able to release or reactivate the seal with a simple command. On Loki's side, two yips in his chimera form would release the seal and it would automatically reactivate when he returned to dog form. Loki was a smart dog. Teaching him how it worked was simple.

We continued to travel mostly by glider, unlocking Loki's powers while in flight so he could follow us using flash step. I roughhoused with the dog a little when we stopped for meals and rest, making sure he had a good feel for his abilities in various states. Again, Loki was a smart dog and picked it up quickly.

Finally, it was the night of the full moon. We'd stopped on a lush island just off the coast of the Earth Kingdom. As we planned to stay here for a few days, I transmuted a comfortable long house with dozens of beds for us to sleep in.

Sloth used the power of her Soul Gem to create a small pocket dimension. It was a featureless, white void that served our purposes as an experimental space. I layered several barriers and conjured up tanks for our experiments to take place in. The interior of the tanks were perfect vacuums, with the barriers cutting off them from any interaction with the outside world. No energy, matter, or even gravity would effect their contents. Each tank had a small piece of jenomite placed inside to test the possibility that this tasty bit of rock candy really was capable of producing matter and energy from nothing.

When we stepped out of the barrier and back onto the island, future versions of us were everywhere. The present Sloth and I began by hunting down some small animals to work on. Sloth turned the dial on her bracelet to water bending and we got started.

Blood bending was conceptually simple. Living things were made mostly of water and bending that water could let you control their actions like a puppet. Putting that theory into practice was unexpectedly easy. The way water moved inside a living creature made it inherently difficult to establish a grip, but three nights of steady practice and experimentation were all it took to get the trick.

It shouldn't have been surprising. Between our extensive water bending training courtesy of my fulbring, our ability to work openly without fear of discovery, and us already thinking of living things in terms of separable components like water thanks to our alchemy training, we had plenty of advantages over Hama, who took years to develop the technique inside a fire nation prison. After we had our initial blood bending grip, Sloth and I used the time turners hidden inside our pocket watches to go back to the beginning of our training on the first day of the full moon to refine our control.

Over the course of several cycles, Sloth and I refined our skills. We could freeze them in place, lift them off the ground, and move them bodily around almost immediately. It took practice to get to the point of moving individual limbs, more practice to do it smoothly as though the animal was moving naturally, still more practice before we could use blood bending without the animal panicking and screeching in pain, or at least attempting to.

Happy with our abilities under the full moon, Sloth and I started practicing in the daytime. Without the boost to our bending the full moon provided, establishing a blood bending grip was harder, manipulating the animal using it was clumsier, and it generally felt like we'd been set back weeks in our training. The mere fact that we could blood bend in broad daylight without the full moon at all was encouraging, and w stuck with it until our daytime control and precision matched our nighttime efforts.

In all, Sloth and I were on the island for a subjective month. In real time, only three days had passed. Before we set out again, the two of us reentered the pocket dimension where we'd left our jenomite experiment. Cut off from every known form of energy and hanging weightless, suspended in a vacuum, the pieces of jenomite had grown exactly the same amount as the control samples we kept outside the sealed pocket dimension.

"This might be real," said Sloth as we looked over the samples. "I am going to strangle Kyubey if this is the counter to entropy it looks like it is."

"Even if jenomite doesn't exist in his world, it'd be proof there was a way to do it without using magical girls at all," I agreed. "Next we ought to work out its exact structure and composition. See if jenomite we transmute from scratch has the same properties."

"We'll do the analysis after we master fire bending," said Sloth. "We were pushing things doing this experiment on the road. I just needed confirmation."

"That sounds like a plan," I said. "Once fire bending training is done, we'll pick a comfortable place to settle in and do our tests."

* * *

A couple more days of glider flight eventually brought us to our destination. Hidden in a largely inaccessible valley, the ruins of the ancient city of the Sun Warriors had been lost for hundreds of years. The Sun Warriors had built their city to last. Aside from some overgrowth, the buildings and roads looked remarkably intact, at least from the mountain top we were looking down from. We quickly hopped down for a closer look.

As we got closer, signs of recent habitation revealed themselves. A small section of buildings was free of vines and overgrowth. Most of the farming plots laid fallow, but a handful were carefully tended with neat rows of staple crops and no weeds mixed in. All signs pointed to a civilization who's population had contracted, but hadn't died out entirely.

The mystery of where the people were was soon answered as the doors to a large community building, possibly a church, opened up and people began filing out. They were dressed lightly as appropriate for the equatorial climate. A subset sported ritual facial tattoos and wore identical uniforms with a collar, headdress, and loin cloth. On sighting us, this group moved to place themselves between us and the civilians.

"Why have you come to this place, outsiders?" asked one of the warriors.

"We've come to learn fire bending," I said. "Everything I've read says the Sun Warriors were the first to master the art."

"It has been many years since outsiders came seeking to learn our ways," said the warrior. "We will present you to the fire bending masters, and if they find you worthy, you will be allowed to study here. However, you must swear to never reveal that our people still live. We have hidden ourselves away from the outside world by choice, and we wish it to remain that way."

"We understand," said Sloth. "Your secret's safe with us."

The warriors led us to another part of the city. Built into the side of a cliff was a massive hearth sheltering an enormous bonfire from the elements. I gaped in awe at the carefully tended hearth.

"Is that what I think it is?" I asked our escorts.

The warrior who'd been speaking with us beamed with pride and said, "This is the first flame, gifted to humanity by the dragons before recorded history. Our people have kept it burning all this time."

"I never expected to see it still alight," I said.

"You will each take a piece of the first flame and present it to the fire bending masters at the top of those stairs." He indicated a flight of stairs carved into the mountain. Then he reached into the bonfire and scooped out two torch sized flames, holding them out to Sloth and I.

"We don't know how to fire bend yet," I said.

"It's a test," he replied. "If it was something easy, there'd be no point doing it at all."

I thought through the thousands of texts on fire bending in Wan Shi Tong's library. I steadied my breathing and accepted the offered flame. It was very basic fire bending, but could provide the energy to keep the flame burning in the palm of my hand without consuming fuel. Sloth likewise managed to take hers in hand and we began to climb the stairs. I ordered Loki to stay at the base of the steps for now.

The point of the exercise was balance. Feed too much power to the flame, you get burned. Too little power and the flame risked flickering out in the increasingly strong winds as we climbed higher. I accepted a few burns as the price of passing the test. I could heal later.

Sloth had much the same idea and we both reached the top with our pieces of the first flame still burning. The two fire bending masters emerged from nearby caves. They weren't human. Both were enormous, serpentine dragons, one red and one blue.

We held out our offerings to the dragons, who flicked out their tongues as they passed, taking the flames from us. Then the dragons began circling around us, rising and falling, weaving around one another. I recognized the pattern they were flying in from one of the scrolls in Wan Shi Tong's spirit library. The scroll described one of the oldest fire bending forms, dating to the time of Avatar Wan, the Dancing Dragon.

"They're inviting us to dance with them," I said. "Do you think you can manage the form?"

Sloth nodded and we performed the form. Passing through the stances and striking in sync with the dragons weaving around us, we finished the form right next to one another. The dragons hovered in place and breathed on us. Sloth and I were surrounded by a swirling vortex of multicolored flames.

The flames burnt out and the dragons retreated to their caves. Sloth and I climbed back down the stairs. The Sun Warriors were waiting for us.

"Masterfully done," said the one we'd been speaking to. "Congratulations. Now that the masters have accepted you, you're welcome to study fire bending with us."

"I've seen dragons before, but none that impressive," I said. "It wasn't just the size either, but the precision control of the temperature of their flame breath to produce that kaleidoscope of colors."

"I can hardly wait until we can do that," said Sloth.

"I'm afraid that's a long ways off," said the warrior with a chuckle.

"Not really," I said. "Bring us to the training grounds and I'll show you a trick."

He obliged and I performed my ritual. Once I'd put the memories back inside my head, I didn't put my bracers back on. I flicked my thumb up and created a small, candle sized flame, proving to myself that I had the control to use my bending safely even with access to my spirit energy. Not really needing my spirit energy, I put the bracers back on, retrieved my things, then imprinted the knowledge onto Sloth through the oroboros mark on her back.

"You think you're a fire bending master now?" verified the warrior.

I breathed fire on him, carefully keeping the flames from touching him as they swirled around him, and modulating the heat to produce the kaleidoscope of colors the dragons had shown me.

"So, I think our next stop should be the Fire Nation capital," said Sloth. "We're pretty close, and we ought to pick up lightning while we're here."

"Sounds good," I said. "We'll head back to Republic City to see about learning metal bending after. Their police are learning it somewhere."

Unfolding our glider staffs, Sloth and I took to the air, leaving the dumbfounded sun warrior behind.

* * *

Author's comments:  
Jenomite doesn't get much focus in the Avatar fandom, but it's properties are actually pretty amazing. It counts as earth for earth bending, it grows exponentially, going from a tiny ring to covering a person entirely in a short period of time, and it's a tasty candy snack. I think with the properties I've described, Sokka and Katara were safe from being covered by the candy's growth, since the pressure of their breath was keeping their faces safe from being grown over. Bumi was a little crazy, but he was never malicious, after all.


	8. Chapter 11: Uprooting the Red Lotus

The Iron Sole Alchemist in the Benders' World (Chapter 11) Uprooting the Red Lotus  
by Howlin  
(Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to any of the universes, places, or characters, and only claim the protagonist, Sloth, and Loki as my own creation. This is fan fiction, and I don't profit from it. Please don't sue me.)

* * *

The next day, we arrived at the Fire Nation's capital city. The city itself was situated on a volcanically active, crescent shaped island. Sloth had been here when she requested the Fire Lord's aid, but this was my first time seeing the place. It was a modern metropolis, every bit the equal of Republic City. Like Republic City, electrical power lines ran alongside every street.

When Sloth, Loki, and I landed near the city center, armed soldiers raised their hands in greeting.

"We've heard rumors that Master Tenzin was training new air benders," said a soldier, apparently female from the sound of her voice. "Are you here to help the new air benders who've been showing up since harmonic convergence?"

"We came to learn about lightning bending," said Sloth. "What's this about new air benders?"

"You haven't heard?" said the soldier. "Well, ever since harmonic convergence, non benders have been spontaneously developing bending abilities. Here in the Fire Nation, it's mostly been fire bending, but a handful of earth, water, and air benders have emerged. The ambassadors from the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribe have been a big help getting their respective benders a handle on their new abilities, but we didn't have anyone who could teach air bending."

"Well,it's not why we're here, but we're happy to help," I offered. "We can get them some basic control and they can visit one of the air temples for more advanced instruction if they're interested."

"Fire Lord Izumi will be happy to hear that," said the soldier. "You should speak to her and make your offer official."

"We will," said Sloth, turning toward the palace. "Maybe they'll have a good recommendation for a lightning teacher while we're there."

* * *

Sloth was recognized, and we got in to see the Fire Lord with no fuss. Fire Lord Izumi was a tall, grey haired woman with glasses. The throne room was a high ceilinged room with carved columns. The throne itself was a comfortable looking cushion situated behind a wall of flames. When we arrived, Izumi parted the flames so we could speak face to face.

"Sloth, it's good to see you again," she opened. "Your assistance during the southern invasion saved a lot of lives on both sides. And this must be Greed. Capturing Desna and Eska was a bigger help than you know. The two of them were instrumental in stabilizing the north with Ulanaq imprisoned in a southern jail."

"It's good to finally meet you," I said. "Thank you for being more reasonable about the end of the world than President Raiko."

"Your timing is fortuitous," said Izumi. "A situation has come up that we could use your help with."

"The new air benders empowered by harmonic convergence?" guessed Sloth.

"In a manner of speaking," said Izumi. "One of the new air benders is a dangerous criminal named Zaheer. He and three companions attempted to abduct Avatar Korra when she was first identified thirteen years ago. They were stopped and locked away in secure White Lotus prisons, but we were never able to find out what they hoped to accomplish by abducting the avatar or whether they were working with anyone else.

"Shortly after harmonic convergence, Zaheer used his new air bending abilities to break out of his prison and started springing the other members of his gang. His first stop was an earth bender named Gazan who has the unique ability to turn earth into lava and bend it in that state. Together, they rescued Ming Hua, an arm less water bender who can use water as replacement limbs. Now they're headed for a secret prison at the north pole where their last member, Pi Lei is being held. She's a fire bender with the ability to create explosions with her mind.

"My father, Lord Zuko, is on his way to Pi Lei's prison to intercept Zaheer and his gang. Any assistance you can provide would be appreciated."

"How did Zaheer know where the others were being held?" asked Sloth.

"We don't know," admitted Izumi. "We've long suspected they were acting on behalf of a larger group, but the locations of their prisons was a carefully kept secret."

"One more thing to ask them once we recapture them and dose them with veritasyrum," I said. "We'll have to come back for the lightning bending lessons."

"Not necessarily," said Izumi. "My father may never have achieved the inner peace to generate lightning himself, but he's studied it extensively, and trained Avatar Aang in preparation for his battle with Fire Lord Ozai. I'm sure he'd be happy to teach you as well."

"The fastest way to the north pole is to cut through the spirit world," I said, snapping and opening a black garganta. "It was a pleasure meeting you."

"Good luck against Zaheer," Izumi called after us.

* * *

My garganta got us to the valley between the northern and southern portals. Sloth, Loki, and I exited through the northern portal, and quickly made our way to the palace. Tanraq was waiting outside with his eyes on the sky.

"Tanraq," I said, waving as we approached.

"Greed, Sloth, thank goodness you're here," said Tanraq.

"Thank Fire Lord Izumi," said Sloth. "She told us what was going on."

"Then it seems I owe her yet again," noted Tanraq. "When Lord Zuko arrives, we'll meet with Desna and Eska, then head out to Pi Lei's prison. Zaheer won't get away."

It wasn't long before Lord Zuko arrived on dragon back. He was a white haired man with a beard, and a prominent burn scar covering the left side of his face. He dressed in red and black robes loose enough to fight in.

"So, these are the travelers from another world who appeared to help the Avatar in her time of need," said Zuko. "Are you here to help us with Zaheer?"

"Fire Lord Izumi told us what was going on," said Sloth. "We're here to help."

"Good. We should see the twins, then get going," said Zuko.

The responsibilities of state bored Desna and Eska to tears, so they were quick to agree to head out into the tundra with us. Aside from Zuko, who rode his dragon, the rest of us made the trip on snowmobiles.

* * *

The prison was accessible through a small ice cave in the middle of nowhere. Inside was a facility staffed by Northern Water Tribe soldiers. Apparently Ulanaq had been a part of setting up this facility, and he'd never told the twins.

"I can't believe we had a secret prison we could have been throwing people in," said Eska.

"I'd like to throw my tailor in here," said Desna. "He always gets my cuffs wrong."

"They aren't joking," Sloth confirmed telepathically as Zuko explained about Pi Lei.

"Fire Lord Izumi seemed to think letting htem take over was the best option once we removed Ulanaq," I thought back. "Does good government just not exist unless we get involved personally?"

"Izumi might have been making the best of bad options," offered Sloth. "After the hundred year war, the Fire Nation conquering another nation and putting a puppet on the throne looks bad. Desna and Eska were Ulanaq's heirs, so no one could object to them."

We rode an elevator down to where Pi Lei's cell was. While we rode, Zuko awkwardly reminisced about the time he'd hired a man with similar abilities to Pi Lei, which he called combustion bending, to try and kill Avatar Aang. Unlike the twins, Zuko was genuinely remorseful about his past before he switched sides and became Aang's friend and teacher.

Pi Lei was chained to the wall of her cell. The sub zero temperatures prevented her from fire bending, and a metal plate was covering her forehead, where the explosive beams would originate. Striking that point on a combustion bender didn't shut down their powers, but it did make them too dangerous to use for a short time, just as likely to blow up in the combustion bender's face.

"While we wait for Zaheer to show up, there are a few questions I have for you," I said to Pi Lei, drawing my wand.

"I've been on ice for thirteen years, and you think you're gonna make me talk just when Zaheer's coming to get me out?" laughed Pi Lei.

"You don't really have a choice. Legelimense!"

Pi Lei had a strong will, but no specific training against psychic intrusion. Even if the hope of escape after thirteen years of captivity hadn't been stirring up her emotions, I'd have had no trouble getting her life story. Holstering my wand, I walked back to the elevator.

"What did you see?" asked Tanraq.

"Our enemy is called the Red Lotus," I began as the elevator started back up. "They're a secret society that branched off the White Lotus after they went public. Their goals are the end of humans having authority over one another. No more nations and leaders.

"Given some of the leadership decisions I've seen since coming to this world, I can understand the temptation to just burn the system to the ground, but it's naive stupidity to assume everything will work out after that, and it wouldn't just open up a power vacuum for someone worse to occupy.

"Anyway, Ulanaq was a member, and the whole unleash Vaatu thing was their plan. His dark avatar plan was him going off script and making a power grab for himself. They tried to kidnap Korra as a child to raise her to help them. Now, they just want her dead. They plan to force her into the avatar state and kill her so she won't reincarnate."

"Do you know who else was involved?" asked Tanraq.

"This group was a mostly isolated cell," I explained. "They avoided learning too many names so they couldn't betray them. Zaheer was the one who maintained contact with the broader organization. We can interrogate him once he's recaptured."

* * *

Zaheer arrived within hours, under cover of an artificial snowstorm. All four members of Zaheer's gang had some measure of spirit energy backing them up, making them stronger, faster, enhancing their bending. The only thing it did in this situation was make their approach obvious to my spiritual senses despite their attempts at stealth.

"This isn't going to be a fight," I said, drawing my wand. "You guys might as well stay here."

I flash stepped into the artificial blizzard and saw Zaheer standing on top of a truck, air bending their cover. I pointed my wand and fired a red stunning hex into his chest. Before his body had time to fall, I got into the truck and knocked out Gazan and Ming Hua with identical stunners. Shoving Gazan out of the driver's seat, I sat down and stepped on the brakes, slowly decelerating as I pulled up to Pi Lei's prison.

"That was impressive," acknowledged Zuko.

"I screwed up going against Vaatu and became a liability," I said. "I wanted to make up for that."

"You had no way of knowing Vaatu would effect you like that," said Sloth. "Screwing up would have been doing what we did when we had some reason to suspect he could do that to you."

"Fair enough," I said. "I'm still glad I got the chance to give a better showing."

"Can you remove their bending?" asked Tanraq.

"I can," I said. With a quick gesture, I encased the three unconscious prisoners in blocks of ice using water bending. I went down the row, pressing my thumbs to their foreheads and chests, energy bending them and removing their bending abilities.

"That'll make containing them much easier," said Zuko. "It's too bad doing the same to Pi Lei would require me to remove the cover from her third eye."

"When they come around, we can help interrogate them," I said. "Meanwhile, I'd like to get some training in. Fire Lord Izumi said you could teach us to bend lightning. Would you be willing to teach us, Lord Zuko?"

"It seems the least I could do," said Zuko.

Tanraq, Desna, and Eska took the prisoners inside. Sloth turned her bracelet to fire bending, and we got started.

Generating lightning involved a wide, circular motion before thrusting the fingertips in the direction you want to send the bolt. This technique required an inner calm that many fire benders couldn't achieve, but fortunately, after facing our demons in previous worlds, Sloth and I had no trouble getting into the correct mindset.

"I'll admit to being a little jealous," said Zuko when Sloth and I unleashed twin lightning bolts. "I never could get the mindset right. Now, this next technique is Lightning Redirection. If you are struck by lightning, natural or produced through fire bending, you can take it in one arm, guide the energy into your stomach, then send it up and out the other arm. You mustn't allow the energy to pass through your heart, or it will kill you."

It took us a couple hours of practice, but before the end of the day, Sloth and I were trading redirected lightning bolts. Zuko looked pleased and marginally impressed.

"Since the other prisoners aren't up yet, do you want to work on combustion bending?" I asked Sloth.

"You shouldn't begin to a study of combustion bending lightly," warned Lord Zuko. "It is the most unforgiving technique in Fire Bending. If not performed perfectly, you will be lucky if the worst that happens is that you blow your own arm off. More likely, it will be your head that explodes."

"Pi Lei trained for years before making her first attempt," I confirmed. "The danger of death and dismemberment keeps most people from trying at all, and it forces those who do try to go laboriously slow."

"Fortunately, Greed and I are homunculi," said Sloth with a grin. "We have the ability to instantly regenerate any injury. We can make mistakes, learn from them, and not end up dead or crippled."

* * *

When Tanraq came out a half hour later, the tundra near the prison had been painted red with blood and gore. Between us, Sloth and I had managed one successful shot each, channeled through a point on our foreheads, along a perfectly straight trajectory, to blow up a target a hundred meters away. The slurry of bloody fingers, toes, brain, and bone strewn across the area testified to the dozens of unsuccessful shots we attempted.

"What... happened here?" asked Tanraq.

A wave of blue alchemic light passed from my severed elbow, reconstructing the bones in my right forearm and hand. A second wave layered on muscle and tendons, and a final wave layered on skin and nails. At the same time, Sloth was regenerating her head in a like manner.

"It's been fascinating watching," said Zuko. "Apparently, they weren't kidding about being immortal."

"What's up?" I asked.

"They're awake," said Tanraq, shaking his head.

"We're making good progress, but no reason we can't take a break and help with the interrogation," I said, stretching.

"You get the names out of Zaheer. I'll grab Gazan's knowledge of lava bending," said Sloth.

Tanraq led us to a room where the prisoners were chained up. They all looked defeated and disappointed. I approached Zaheer and smiled.

"You're going to help us roll up the rest of the Red Lotus. Contacts, members, meeting plans, passwords, everything. Legelimense!"

Zaheer wasn't evil. He was just an idiot. He genuinely believed that destroying the avatar, world leaders, and any other pillars of order he could get his hands on would inherently benefit the little people. It was the same naivety that underscored the Bount invasion of the Soul Society.

Zaheer had a lot of company in his delusional belief in anarchy. Members of the Red Lotus were spread throughout every nation. Many of Zaheer's contacts had spirit energy and enough training to leave their bodies and consult in the spirit world. Zaheer had stayed in touch with those contacts throughout his imprisonment, keeping up to date on world events.

When I finished rifling through his mind, I drew my zanpakto and stabbed Zaheer twice, destroying his soul chain and soul sleep, permanently destroying his spirit energy. Though my zanpakto was invisible, the motion of my hand and the twin spurts of blood from Zaheer drew Zuko, Tanraq, Desna, and Eska's attention. I grabbed some ice with water bending, liquefied it, and used it to heal the physical wounds I inflicted on Zaheer.

"What was that about?" demanded Tanraq.

"He's been leaving his body to stay in contact with his allies in the wider world," I explained. "I inflicted a spiritually crippling injury just like I did to Ulanaq. It'll keep him from casually leaving his body again."

"You mean to say locking him up all these years hasn't changed a thing?" asked Tanraq. "He's still been able to speak to whoever he wanted while inside his cell?"

I nodded. "Which is good for us. It means the names, passwords, and the like I got from him are up to date."

"It seems the Red Lotus just lost the game," said Zuko satisfied.

* * *

Zuko and Tanraq spent the next few hours on the radio, coordinating the resources at their disposal to take advantage of the intelligence I'd provided. Sloth and I resumed work on our combustion bending. By the end of it, we were no longer blowing ourselves up, and were instead working on our aim.

"It's time for dinner," said one of the guards. "Lord Zuko and Chiefs Tanraq, Desna, and Eska would appreciate it if you would join them."

"Thanks. We'll be right in," I said. I stepped toward the prison and deconstructed the blood and body parts in a wave of blue alchemic light originating from the transmutation circle on the sole of my shoe.

We headed down to a lower chamber where we'd asked Loki to stay so we wouldn't worry him with our combustion bending practice. Once our dog was at our side, we followed the guard to the mess hall where the royalty were waiting. Accepting trays offered by the guards, we went to sit down at the table with the others. The guards had prepared a special bowl for Loki, which I set down for him once I'd taken my seat.

"Greed, Sloth, I want to thank you for your help with Zaheer and his associates," said Zuko. "Not to mention everything you've already done to help restore the Air Nation, destroy Vaatu, and capture Ulanaq. You've both been of great service maintaining and restoring the balance of the world. I would like to offer you membership in the Order of the White Lotus."

"Protecting the avatar, preserving peace, fostering cooperation between nations," said Sloth, listing off the White Lotus' goals and principles. "We would be honored to join such an organization."

I bowed my head in acknowledgement. "Thank you, Lord Zuko."

"You've done more to deserve a place with us than some grand masters have," said Zuko, brushing off our thanks. "We'll go over the secret hand shakes later. For now, I'd like to talk about your first official mission."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Aiwei, one of Zaheer's spirit world contacts is based out of the Earth Kingdom city of Zaufu," began Zuko. "Aiwei has a trusted position where he could do a lot of damage. On a more personal note, Zaufu's leader, Suyin Bei Fong, is the daughter of an old friend of mine and I'd like to see her safe."

"Our next stop was going to be Republic City to see if we could find a metal bending teacher, but that can wait until Aiwei's dealt with and your friend's safe," I said.

"I appreciate that," said Zuko, "though you may find your plans aren't as delayed as you might think."

"An airship will arrive in the morning to take you to Zaufu," said Tanraq.

"In that case, we should try to work on our lava bending after dinner," said Sloth. "I'd like to at least get the basics while we still have Gazan's brain to pick."

* * *

As far as we knew, Gazan was the first earth bender besides the avatar to bend lava. Once Sloth revealed how Gazan did it, the success of previous avatars made more sense. Lava bending involved applying concepts of water bending and fire bending to one's earth bending. With the equivalent of ten thousand years of practice with all four elements, it wasn't difficult to apply Gazan's insights. We were successfully liquefying and solidifying rock and moving it around in its liquid state within an hour of practice.

Before I stripped him of his bending, Gazan had been fond of forming frizbee sized lava shurikens. When the promised air ship arrived the next morning, Sloth and I were playing catch with two spinning blades of glowing, liquid rock. As the air ship docked, we compressed the lava shurikens into black balls of cooled igneous rock and dropped them.

The air ship was a large propeller driven, lighter than air craft. There were spacious bedrooms and a large, high ceilinged common area. The crew were quiet and professional, mostly preferring to give us some peace and quiet on our trip.

With little else to do as we traveled, Sloth and I resumed our experiments with Jenomite. After deriving its chemical structure, we used alchemy to produce a new jenomite sample from base elements. Our transmuted crystals showed the same growth properties as the original samples.

"I don't think there's any escaping it," said Sloth after a certain point. "Jenomite violates matter and energy conservation laws, has an easily reproducible chemical structure, and is absolutely a fully scaleable, cruelty free solution to the problem of entropy. It isn't an obvious solution, but it probably isn't the only novel solution either. The incubators have no excuse for jumping straight to the witch system when they still had trillions of years to work on basic science and find one of the available alternatives."

"How do you want to play it when we go visit his world?" I asked. "Do you want to just tell Kyubey? Maybe earth bend some jenomite crystals through the heads of his bodies until he asks us what we're doing? Tell him there is a solution somewhere in organic chemistry and withhold the actual answer?"

"I don't know," said Sloth. "I mean, he doesn't feel pain, so I'm not sure smashing his bodies would be as satisfying as it should be, but I know I don't want to just give it to him. I'll need to think about it."

"There's no rush," I said. "Whatever you decide, I'll support."

* * *

This was a world of architectural marvels. The city of Zaufu was a collection of enormous metal flowers that closed into buds at night and blossomed open as the sun rose. A rail system connected the individual blossoms to one another. The enormous metal petals weren't strictly ornamental. Made from refined platinum, a material even master metal benders couldn't effect, the shell formed when they were closed would deter most armies.

Our air ship docked and Sloth, Loki, and I debarked. We were greeted on the platform by a barefoot, bald man with a thin chain running from a nose piercing to an ear piercing. He was the man I'd seen in Zaheer's memories, Aiwei.

"Hello. Will this be all the members of your party?" he asked.

"Just the three of us," I confirmed.

"Three?" asked Aiwei. Catching sight of Loki, he nodded and said, "Ah, I see. Miss Suyin Bei Fong wishes to see you."

"Lead the way," I said.

"Aiwei's isolated here," reported Sloth telepathically. "There aren't any other Red Lotus members in Zaufu. He's spent years ingratiating himself with Suyin and her family. He's the only truth seer in Zaufu and she trusts him implicitly as a matter of policy."

"Truth seer?" I thought back.

"It's the reason he's barefoot," thought Sloth. "There's an earth bending ability called seismic sense that lets you 'see' by sensing the vibrations in the ground. A truth seer takes it a step further, using their seismic sense to monitor breathing, heart rate, and basically act like a polygraph."

"No use against us, then," I thought, relieved. "Occlumency keeps those tells suppressed."

"He doesn't suspect a thing," confirmed Sloth.

Suyin was a grey haired woman dressed in a flowing green robe with a metal necklace. She was watching two young men play a high speed metal bending game that had superficial similarities to air ball.

"You must be Greed, Sloth, and is this Loki?" said Suyin, bending down to pet our dog.

"He is, and we are," I said with a smile. "You must be Suyin."

"I like to keep informed of the people who come to my city," said Suyin. "I hear you helped Tenzin rebuild the Air Nomads by granting air bending to the acolytes."

"We did," said Sloth.

"Tell me, while you were traveling together, did Tenzin manage to teach you any air bending?" asked Suyin.

"We're both master air benders," I said, forming and dissipating a small tornado in the palm of my hand. "And masters of the other three elements as well."

Suyin looked at Aiwei, who gave her a worried look and shook his head.

"Did you know that Aiwei here is a truth seer?" asked Suyin. "Thanks to Aiwei, there are no secrets in Zaufu. He can detect the slightest change in heart rate and know when someone's lying."

"It isn't a perfect ability," said Aiwei. "It works on the principle that everyone is at least a little uncomfortable with lying. A sociopath can lie and manipulate without a hint of guilt, and that I am unable to detect."

"We are trained in all four elements," I said, holding a flame in my left hand, condensing a small ball of water out of the moisture in the air with my right hand, and using my right foot to levitate a small bit of dirt off the otherwise immaculate metal floor.

"Of course, we are capable of undetectable lying," said Sloth as I released my hold on the elements. "My head is a red balloon. You see? We aren't sociopaths, but we are trained in a technique called occlumency that protects our minds and our secrets."

"In that case, I apologize for the suspicion," said Suyin. "I don't suppose you can grant others the remaining elements?"

"It was one of the first things we tried," I said. "I survived due to the unusual structure of my soul, and I can't completely duplicate that soul structure without a particular artifact I didn't bring with me when I came to visit this world."

"Well, it was worth a try," said Suyin, brushing it off. "Why don't I introduce you to my family?"

The two young men playing the metal bending game were Wei and Wing, her twin sons. Their older brother Huan was an artistic sort with a streak of green hair who used his metal bending to create abstract sculptures. Baatar Jr. was the oldest son, named for their architect father. A non bender, Baatar Jr. reached for his potential through science and engineering. Finally, we were introduced to Suyin and Baatar's only daughter Opal. She was tall with short black hair, olive green eyes, and an easy smile.

"Opal is one of the people who discovered they had air bending after harmonic convergence," said Suyin. "It would mean the world to us if you would stay in Zaufu and teach Opal about her new gift."

"There's no reason we can't teach Opal air bending while we study metal bending," I said, taking a quick glance at Sloth who nodded.

"While we're here, we can also teach lava bending classes," said Sloth. "We recently helped interrogate a criminal named Gazan, and among the things we learned from him was how to perform lava bending."

Sloth adjusted the dial on her soul bracelet then levitated a handful of pebbles, melted them, and fuse them into a lava shuriken. After giving it a quick spin around the courtyard we were in, she solidified it back into rock. All the while, Aiwei did an admirable job keeping a straight face. There were tells if you knew to look for them, but Sloth and I were the only ones who knew to look.

"That's amazing," declared Suyin with a nod of agreement from Opal. "When my mother, Toph Bei Fong invented metal bending, she expanded the horizons of what earth bending could do. This is every bit as significant."

"Before you go putting up any statues," said Sloth, glancing at several statues of Toph, "remember, we're just passing the knowledge on. It was Gazan who developed the technique."

* * *

Sloth and I were invited to dine with the Bei Fong family. Aiwei was at the table with us. Before dinner, we both slipped something into one another's drinks. I was pretty confident I'd noticed him, but he hadn't noticed me.

I smiled as I detected the characteristic flavor of almonds as I took a drink, the classic sign of cyanide. I loved being immortal. Some magically active poisons might have been able to effect me, but simple chemical poisons like this really were nothing more than flavoring to my homunculus body.

"I don't understand. You should be dead," said Aiwei as I took another drink and smiled at him.

"What do you mean 'he should be dead'?" asked Suyin.

"I poisoned his drink and planted evidence framing the chef. He should be dying right now," said Aiwei. "Why am I saying this out loud?"

"Because I dosed your drink with a powerful truth potion," I explained.

"What is going on here?" demanded Suyin.

"Aiwei is part of a secret group called the Red Lotus and has worked his way into his current position to undermine Zaufu," I explained.

"It wasn't that difficult," said Aiwei. "You are an incredibly trusting, easily led woman. Because of my abilities, I could tell you anything and you'd believe me. If Zaufu has a law, it's my word, not yours."

"If you're so confident you could get away with anything, why try and kill our guests?" asked Suyin.

"They arrived already knowing the truth," said Aiwei. "The lava bending criminal they mentioned was with the Red Lotus. Unfortunately, by the time I realized it, they'd already shown my abilities didn't work on them."

"How long is he going to be like this?" asked Suyin.

"About an hour unless we re dose him," provided Sloth.

"That probably won't be enough," said Aiwei. "I've been working behind your back for a very long time."

"Lock him up," said Suyin to her guards. "Would you be willing to provide more of this truth potion to help with his interrogation?"

"Of course," I said.

Aiwei was removed. Once he was gone, we resumed eating. The chef had done an impressive job, putting together flavors and textures I wouldn't have considered.

"Aiwei was right about you knowing the truth about him when you arrived, wasn't he?" asked Suyin.

"He was," I acknowledged. "We were sent here by Lord Zuko to deal with him."

"We wanted to assess the situation and decide the best way to do this before acting," added Sloth.

"I can't blame you for that," said Suyin. "I've known Aiwei for years and trusted him implicitly. I wouldn't have believed you if you'd just accused him first thing. What I want to know is if you're still staying to teach Opal."

"If you'll still have us after our little deception," I said. "We'd still like to study metal bending ourselves, of course."

"We'll get all the lessons started tomorrow," said Suyin.

* * *

Author's comments:  
After assimilating the libraries of multiple modern worlds, Sloth and Greed are both familiar with numerous theories and philosophies of governance, including anarchy. Zaheer's ideas aren't new to them, and they have the tools to recognize the natural consequences of his intended actions. The Red Lotus was never going to be a physical or moral threat, only a source of new bending abilities for our heroes to pick up while they're here.


	9. Chapter 12: Concluding Jinora's Training

The Iron Sole Alchemist in the Benders' World (Chapter 12) Concluding Jinora's Training  
by Howlin  
(Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to any of the universes, places, or characters, and only claim the protagonist, Sloth, and Loki as my own creation. This is fan fiction, and I don't profit from it. Please don't sue me.)

* * *

Opal was a quick study, picking up air bending techniques almost as fast as we could show them to her. Suyin and her sons took a few days to really grasp the theory behind lava bending, and another week before they managed it for the first time. As for our metal bending training, Suyin had us barefoot and blindfolded for a week, developing our seismic senses before she showed us her meteorite collection. Sensing and grasping control over the impurities in the metal, Sloth and I didn't have any trouble metal bending the meteorites. From there, it was just a matter of bending increasingly pure metals in increasingly complex ways.

"I'm holding you back, aren't I?" said Opal after we'd been working together for about a month.

"You're making excellent progress," I assured her.

"But you're done," said Opal. "You've mastered metal bending, you've passed on lava bending. At this point, you're only staying in Zaufu for my sake."

"If you want to stop your training, you can," I said with a disappointed sigh. "I want my students to fully master their abilities and realize their potential, but I understand not everyone feels like it's as important as I do."

"I don't want to end my training," said Opal, taking a seat. "I want to become a true air bending master. I just... Can you keep a secret?"

"I may not like keeping them, but over the years, I've learned enough secrets that could lead to disasters that I've gotten professional training at keeping them. What's wrong?"

"I want to go to the air temples," admitted Opal. "Mother wants her family with her all the time in Zaufu, but want to get out, see the world, maybe try out the Air Nomad lifestyle and see if it's right for me. I thought, if you left, going to the air temple would be the only way I could study air bending, and she'd have to let me go."

"You're your own person, Opal," I said with conviction. "If you want to go to the air temples, you shouldn't have to have an excuse. I'd be happy to bring you to the air temple of your choice and provide an introduction if you don't want to stay and study in Zaufu."

"I just don't want to disappoint my mother," said Opal.

"Your mom's always telling stories about her time traveling the world," I noted. "Having the chance to do that meant a lot to her. Do you think she'd begrudge you the same chance?"

"No. Not really," she said with a sigh.

"If you really think me leaving is the best plan, I will, but I don't see any reason you can't leave on good terms with her blessing. Likewise, it's not like you can never come back once you do."

* * *

After my talk with Opal, I headed down to Huan's sculpture garden. Though they had very different styles and mediums, Sloth and Huan had hit it off over their mutual love for art. When I arrived, I found Loki enjoying an afternoon nap in the shade of one of Huan's sculptures next to a rune inscribed bowl sitting on the ground."

I looked into the surface of the pensive and saw the Southern Air Temple. Touching my nose to the surface of the bowl's contents, I fell into the memory being shown. In the path away from the temple, I saw Sloth and Huan. Sloth had a canvas and paints out while Huan was metal bending a hunk of raw material that would eventually become his next sculpture.

"So, how long have you been hiding here with this hansom young artist?" I teased.

"Just since you've been busy with his athletic younger sister," Sloth teased back.

I leaned down and kissed Sloth then took a look at her canvas.

"Using the pensive to capture moments you weren't planning on painting at the time was a brilliant idea," I said with a smile at her painting of the temple.

"So, how are things going with Opal?" asked Sloth.

"She fired me," I said.

"She what?" asked Huan. "I don't think I've seen Opal happier than these past few weeks studying air bending. What did you do to her?"

"Nothing like that," I assured Huan, who cautiously set down the heavy metal sculpture he'd been levitating threateningly. "Opal's decided she wants to visit the air temples and study there."

"I can see why she'd want to go," said Huan. "Sloth's been showing me her memories of the temples. I'm surprised mom okayed it, though."

"Opal was worried about that too, but Suyin came around pretty quick once Opal explained how much it meant to her," I said.

"We're going with and checking on Jinora's progress while we're there, right?" confirmed Sloth.

"That's what I was thinking," I replied. "I did promise her fulbring once her soul reaper powers settled."

* * *

The resources of the White Lotus made chartering an air ship from myself, Sloth, Loki, and Opal much simpler. We'd radioed ahead to make sure the temple we were headed toward was the one Tenzin and his family were at for the moment. Over the radio, Tenzin expressed his eagerness to meet Opal and his hope that she'd find what she was looking for among them.

When the air ship docked, the family came out to meet us. Jinora tried to surprise me with a quick flash step, but while she was in mid stride, I flash stepped into the spot she'd started in and gave her a wave. After fielding a dozen questions from Ikki, greeting the rest of the family, and introducing Opal, I took Jinora aside.

"You've been leaving your body to visit the spirit world a lot in the past month or so, haven't you?" I opened.

"How did you know?" asked Jinora.

"Spirit energy grows fastest when the soul is put in danger of termination," I said. "While you're in your body, the worst that can happen is you'll die. Your soul isn't in any danger at all. When you're in spirit form, those minor risks that are a part of daily life effected the soul and not just the body, so spirit energy grows faster."

"How long do I have to spend out of my body before I have more spirit energy than you?" asked Jinora.

"Human souls have a built in strength limit," I said, shaking my head. "I've exceeded that limit through technological means. The same alteration that made me vulnerable to Vaatu removed me strength cap."

"Oh," said Jinora, disappointed.

"The actual strength limit is actually pretty ridiculous," I hastened to add. "People can train hard for thousands of years and not come close to the limit. Honestly, once you can casually vaporize a mountain, exact numbers stop meaning much."

"If they don't mean much, why'd you do it?" pressed Jinora.

"I was nowhere near the strength limit when I underwent hollowfication," I said. "It represented a quick, immediate boost in power and unlocked abilities that I otherwise couldn't learn. If you want to get a hollowfication, you'll need to talk to your dad about coming back to my world to attend our boarding school. I simply don't have the tools to do it here."

"When are you leaving?" asked Jinora.

"In a few days, I think," I replied. "I think I've learned everything I can from this world, so it's nearly time to go home and share the wonders I've seen with my people."

"Can we talk about it with my mom and dad?" asked Jinora.

"Of course," I said. "Barring cases of child abuse and the like, we require permission from parents or guardians to attend."

"It sounds like I'd learn a lot," said Jinora, "but leaving everything behind..."

"If you do decide to go, it won't be forever," I said. "There are breaks and holidays you'd be able to come home for, but we can go over the details when we talk to your parents. For now, I have a gift for you."

"What is it?" Jinora asked brightly.

"By bonding with a zanpakto, your soul has taken on characteristics of humans and soul reapers," I began to explain. "This process makes it possible for me to transfer a power called fullbring to you. Are you ready?"

"Yes," said Jinora, carefully controlling her excitement.

I took out my substitute soul reaper combat pass. With an act of will, green flames flickered from the pentagon shaped badge to envelop my entire body. When the flames vanished, I wore a black bodysuit with bone white bands of armor, giving me a skeletal appearance. My right arm was covered in a shell of black and red armor with a large protrusion along the shoulder. My left arm was covered in white and red armor. I was holding a curved short sword with my substitute badge as its cross guard.

I bowed my head in Jinora's direction and green flames consumed my armor and weapon, then leaped to Jinora where they reformed into the same style of weapon and armor. While she looked over herself, I took a dispenser out of my utility belt and swallowed a red pill. My spirit energy pulsed as the backup of my powers made before I came to this world overrode my current powers and restored my fullbring. I took another substitute badge out of my belt pouch and armored up once again.

"I feel so much stronger," said Jinora.

"You should," I said with a smile. "When I transferred over my fullbring, I also transferred over as much raw spirit energy as your soul could handle. You're at the strength limit now, as powerful as an unmodified human soul can be. Learning to use that power will still take time but..."

"You planned this," she said, playfully hitting me with a blast of wind.

I tried to catch and dispel the blast, but found my air bending inaccessible. The blast struck and knocked me through a nearby mountain before I managed to stop and return with a flicker of green bringer light as I chose to use fullbring assisted high speed movement. A lot of people had gathered to stare.

"It's okay," I said as I turned to try and steady the collapsing mountain with earth bending, that also didn't work. "I just gave Jinora a boost to her spirit energy and she'll need a little time to get used to it."

When the crowds started to dissipate, Jinora could no longer hold back a grin as she said, "I knocked you through a mountain."

"You can do all sorts of things to a stronger opponent when his guard's down," I replied. "I think using that pill lost me my bending. I'll have to have Sloth energy bend it back and make a new set of backup pills tonight."

"So... um... what does all this stuff do?" asked Jinora.

"I'll show you."

* * *

Fullbring was one of the hardest spiritual powers for me to learn. Jinora had learned the basics of summoning her powers in an afternoon. When she learned one of the abilities I'd granted her was Book of the End, which I'd used to study under the old air bending masters, Jinora took me to a place called Lahima's Point.

"According to legend, an air bending master named Guru Lahima discovered the secret to unaided flight like the sky bison," explained Jinora. "No one's managed it before or since, so no one knows if it really happened or if it was just a myth."

We both stabbed the ground and inserted ourselves into the past where we met Guru Lahima. His abilities were no myth. The old master was happy to explain how to do it as he levitated in a lotus position.

The secret of weightlessness was total detachment. You needed to let go of all your earthly tethers to achieve it. Back in the present, I walked Jinora through the process of storing your memories in a container, reversing the change to history, and restoring the memories to your mind.

"It's really true," said Jinora excited.

"It's easy to see why no one followed in his footsteps," I said.

"What do you mean?"

"I own a sword that digs tentacles into its wielder's arm and consumes their spirit energy, potentially fatally. I've used it in battle because I needed the temporary boost in power it gave. I'm intimately familiar with the idea of power at a price, and more often than not, I'm willing to pay it. But this? No friends? No family? No earthly attachments of any kind? Not worth it."

"When you put it that way, it reminds me of a story about Grandpa Aang. He met a man named Guru Pathic who promised to help him master the avatar state. He went through almost everything, but when he was told he'd have to give up his attachment to Grandma Katara, he had a vision of her in danger. Even if it meant never mastering the avatar state, he wouldn't let anything happen to her, so he left the guru and went to rescue Gran-gran."

"It sounds like Avatar Aang was a very wise man indeed," I said.

"He died a few years before I was born," said Jinora sadly. "Daddy and Gran-gran told me stories, but I never got to meet him."

"I'm glad I could help you meet him," I said.

Jinora looked puzzled for a moment, then realized what I was talking about, took out her badge and stared at it. "I can meet him, can't I? I got used to the idea Korra was the closest I could get, since she's Grandpa Aang's reincarnation."

"It's really satisfying to see Book of the End being used positively like this," I confided. "I originally took it from an evil fullbringer who used it to manipulate one of my friends and trick him into a trap."

* * *

"If she goes, how long would she be away?" asked Pemma.

Jinora was seated between her parents on a couch. Sloth and I were seated on a couch opposite them with a short table between us.

"The full program is seven years," I said. "There's a two week holiday around the winter solstice and a two month holiday during the summer, during which she can come home to spend time with her family."

"And what would she be leaving at this school of yours?" asked Tenzin.

"Our program covers every form of science and magic we've encountered on our travels between worlds," I explained. "There's the advanced alchemy native to our world, a wide variety of spells and potions taken directly from the curriculum of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the more combat oriented magic taught at the Seireitei's Spiritual Arts Academy, and a solid grounding on both conventional physics and what we've been able to derive from Incubator technology thus far. After this trip, we'll be adding all four forms of bending to the curriculum."

"And you expect to fit all of that into seven years?" asked Tenzin skeptically.

"That will depend on Jionra," said Sloth. "All of that is an offer, but it will be up to her where she focuses her studies. We do employ a number of education aids to help students interested in learning more than time would usually allow, and we have more aids working their way through the Assembly mandated safety tests."

"I want to add that there is no commitment," I said. "If at any time, Jinora doesn't want to continue with us, she can be disenrolled and will be returned home immediately."

"This sort of private boarding school sounds expensive," noted Pemma.

"The citizens of Liore, the city where it's based, have a legally mandated right to attend free of charge. The Amestrian Civil Assembly provides a number of generous scholarships to its citizens, as well as setting aside funding to allow individuals from friendly worlds to study there in the interests of building diplomatic ties."

"If there were any barriers or requirements other than your agreement, Greed would have brought them up before making an offer," noted Sloth.

"Well, Jinora?" prompted Tenzin.

"I want to go, daddy," she said after a moment.

"Then it's settled," said Tenzin with a proud smile to his eldest daughter. "You can go. Learn a lot and teach it to the rest of us when you get back."

"Take good care of her," said Pemma. "If anything happened to her..."

"We'll make sure she's safe," I promised. "As the school's new bending instructors, watching out for the safety and welfare of all students is literally part of our job."

"It's one of the safest schools in the known multiverse," said Sloth. "Since its founding, we haven't had one attack my a self styled dark lord, one infiltration of the faculty by a would be god intent on his own agenda, or interference with the students by a dangerous, extraterrestrial intelligence."

"We aren't kidding," I affirmed. "Every one of those things was an issue in a school we ran into in one of the worlds we've explored."

"What's the worst thing that's hit your world?" asked Pemma.

"Centuries old immortals performing mass human sacrifice rituals that destroy entire cities," I admitted. "We're also, as far as we can tell, the only world that's been invaded by organized military forces from another world. Neither has happened since the school's founding, and we have precautions in place."

"I suppose we're in no position to judge," said Tenzin. "The great spirit of darkness and chaos did very nearly destroy this world recently."

* * *

That evening, Sloth and I had retired to our room. She'd restored my bending abilities and I was working on a suitcase sized device to produce a new set of red power backup pills. Sloth was having a playful tug of war with Loki using a piece of rope while I worked.

"It's hard to believe our trip to this world's almost done," noted Sloth idly. "We'll end up spending more time teaching bending back home than we needed to master it here."

"You can't blame the Assembly for being cautious about knowledge implants," I said as I adjusted a dial on the device. "It works fine between us because we trust each other absolutely. You wouldn't accept an imprint from just anyone, not even from certified school faculty."

"I know," said Sloth. "It's just after running ourselves ragged on our last teaching job, I guess I was hoping for a longer trip."

"We did go for an easy world this time," I reminded her. "Maybe the next one'll be a years long challenge."

"As powerful as we've become, a challenge like that seems unlikely," said Sloth.

"We could ease up a little on the requirement that all our powers have to work in the next world," I suggested.

"I'm okay with that," said Sloth contemplatively, "but keeping our alchemy's non-negotiable. I don't want to risk getting stranded like we almost did in the Nazi world."

"Sounds reasonable to me," I said as I put away my new set of power backup pills.

"At least we shouldn't need to time turn while teaching bending," said Sloth with a sigh. "Even teaching two elements each we'll have plenty of time to ourselves."

* * *

Over the next few days, we fielded a lot of questions. Air Nomads don't tend to accumulate many possessions, so Jinora was able to put a few favorite books in a bag with her clothes, grab her glider staff, and she was packed. Before we left, Sloth and I gathered the whole family together for a photo. We developed two copies using a potion that made the figures move. One we left with Tenzin and the other we gave to Jinora.

The whole temple came to see us off. Sloth, Loki, Jinora, and I stood away from the waving group of Air Nomads.

"Gate travel can be disorienting," I warned Jinora as we prepared to go. "While we're inside the Gate, your mind will be flooded with all the knowledge of the cosmos. While you're distracted with that, amorphous creatures made of shadow will try to steal your limbs and organs. Sloth and I have made this trip many times. We'll protect and guide you through.

Jinora swallowed nervously and said, "Okay."

"Thank you for everything," said Sloth to the gathered Air Nomads. "We'll see you soon."

I clapped my hands, and a sophisticated transmutation circle drew itself in blue light above my head. The circle swept down over us and the four of us were taken before the Gate. I took a steadying breath before the enormous carved double doors swung open and absolute knowledge slammed into my finite mind. I clapped and deconstructed the tentacle like arms reaching out for us as I guided us away from the world of the benders and back to my home town. We approached the Gate from the inside and I forced it open with my combined physical and alchemic power. Sloth, Jinora, Loki, and I were deposited in a circular stone room with a painted sign prominently indicating we'd arrived in Liore and what the local time was.

Jinora'd been staring wide eyed since we entered the Gate and dropped to her knees now that stable ground was beneath us and the infinite knowledge of the Truth was no longer being forced into her mind.

"That was... I saw... Everything was in there," Jinora said after a long moment of processing.

"It is," I agreed. "Come on. Let's introduce you to the mayor while we make our report about your world. Then, we can see about getting your school supplies and getting you enrolled."

We headed out of the fortified arrival area and stepped outside into the bustling desert city of Liore. A handful of blue uniformed Amestrian soldiers were walking the crowded streets attracting little attention. I saw more than a few people openly displaying the purple, slitted eyes of their homunculus forms to equally little concern.

"This is more crowded than Republic City," said Jinora looking around.

"You'll have plenty of time to look around later," said Sloth. "Stay close to us for now."

We led the way to the mayor's office, occasionally pausing to greet someone along the way. We were let in right away by security and soon found ourselves in the office proper.

"Jinora, this is Rose, the mayor of Liore. Rose, this is Jinora, daughter of Master Tenzin, leader of the Air Nomads," I introduced the young air bender to the brown and pink haired woman responsible for so much of Liore's success. "I've offered Jinora a place in our school."

"I'm pleased to meet you, Jinora," said Rose, offering her hand and shaking Jinora's with a bow. "So, Greed, Sloth, I take it things went well in this new world."

"It was mostly what we were hoping for," said Sloth. "Safe, stable, and containing a new kind of magic we could bring home. This time, a method of manipulating the four classical elements through martial arts called bending." Sloth demonstrated, setting he dial on her bracelet and producing a small flame in the palm of her hand.

"Jinora's family were kind enough to take us in and help us get our bearings in the new world, and since she had natural spirit energy, I wanted to give her the chance to master it as a way of repaying that kindness," I said.

* * *

A few hours later, we left Rose's office and brought Jinora up to the school. She was provided with books, potion ingredients, pens, papers, additional clothes, and the like as well as being matched with a wand. Finally through with the basic enrollment process, Jinora took a deep breath and looked around her, taking in the campus.

"This is where you teach everything?" confirmed Jinora. "All the science and magic you talked about before we left?"

"That's right," I said.

"Good," said Jinora. Then she took her substitute badge off her belt, turned it into a short sword with a burst of green bringer light, and stabbed the ground.

Sloth and I stared at her in surprise for a few seconds before twin grins spread on our faces. Jinora finished repeating the process I'd used to learn bending by extracting her memories of the altered timeline where she'd already attended this school, reversed her changes by stabbing hte ground again, then stuffing the memories back in.

"I knew I liked this girl," said Sloth.

"So, you've finished our whole curriculum?" I confirmed.

"I still need to hollowfy in real time and develop my relationship with my inner spirits," said Jinora, "and I haven't made a homunculus body for someone and opened the Gate on my own yet, but otherwise, yeah."

I kept smiling and led her back up to one of the administrative desks and made arrangements for her to take the appropriate tests to skip the material she'd already learned.

"Since you haven't taught the classes yet, I'll still need to learn the other three elements the long way," noted Jinora as the tests were being prepared.

"We still aren't one hundred percent sure what makes it safe for me to hold more than one element," I noted. "We'll run some tests and once we're sure, we'll give you the other elements. As for hollowfication, once you pass your tests, I'll get out the hogyoku for you to use."

* * *

As expected, Jinora easily tested out of all the classes we'd previously taught. There weren't any shortcuts to a good relationship with your inner spirits, and there were still the new bending classes, so she wasn't completely with nothing to do, but she'd definitely bought herself a lot of free time. It took a few days to organize the bending lessons and perform the necessary tests.

My theory that my inner spirits helping share the strain was what allowed me to hold multiple elements was borne out by the experiments. An unmodified human, with or without spirit energy, could hold at most one element. Add a zanpakto and the number of elements increases to two. After undergoing hollowfication, a person can handle all four elements.

While truly mastering any bending art could be the work of a lifetime, we were able to get students up to the level of competence we'd seen from most benders from the skill's native world inside a week. By the end of a month of dedicated instruction, our students were at the level of professional soldiers with their bending. When it was time for winter break, our bending students could have passed for elite warriors in the armies of any of the elemental nations.

When Sloth and I went to pick up Jinora for her break, there was an unexpected,familiar face waiting with her. Loki yipped happily and ran up to greet Winry Elric. The world's best automail engineer easily shifted her heavy bags onto one shoulder as she kneeled to greet the excited dog.

"Winry, what are you doing here?" I asked. Then hastily added, "not that we aren't happy to see you."

"I'm coming with you, of course," declared Winry. "You finally found a world where they independently invented automail. I want to go to the Fire Nation and study it directly."

"We're only staying for two weeks," I warned. "If you want, we can leave you and pick you up when we drop off Jinora after her first year's done."

"I've already read all the material you brought back from the libraries," said Winry. "A couple weeks talking to their engineers directly should be plenty."

"We are making a stop along the way," said Sloth. "Before we go to the bending world, we got permission from the Assembly to visit the quarantined Incubator world."

"After what happened to you there, I'm surprised you want to go back," said Winry.

"Madoka and Homura should be holding the Incubators in check," said Sloth, "but we have something that might convince them to abandon the magical girl project altogether."

"So, a quick review of the quarantine procedure for this world," I said. "No Incubator gets anywhere near the Gate, no one agrees to any Incubator contract or makes any sort of wish. We don't want them gaining knowledge, power, or resources, and we especially don't want them spreading to other worlds."

"Right," agreed Winry and Jinora together.

Sloth clapped her hands and the intricate transmutation circle Hohenheim had developed to keep outsiders from observing the Gate flared blue above our party and swept down. After navigating the metaphorical space of the Truth, we emerged on a sidewalk in Mitakihara. I inserted the Mad Eye into my socket so I could see the Incubator that hopped off a nearby building and padded over to us.

"Hello, Kyubey," said Sloth as he approached. It was clear from eye contact that Jinora could see the little alien while Winry couldn't.

"I'm curious to hear if your alternative wish project was a success," chirped Kyubey cheerfully.

"It was," I informed the creature.

"We found something while exploring a new world we thought you might find interesting," said Sloth, taking out a small box. "Give me your paw."

Kyubey offered a fore paw, sitting up in a calculatedly "cute" way. Everything about this thing was designed by a superhuman gestalt intelligence to put young girls at ease and off their guard to facilitate harvesting their souls. I suppressed the urge to stomp the Incubator body in front of me flat under my boot while Sloth took a ring of green crystal out of the box and skid it onto Kyubey's fore paw.

"What is this?" asked Kyubey as he tried and failed to slide the crystal ring back off to examine it closer.

"It's called jenomite," said Sloth. "Also known as creeping crystal."

The crystal ring expanded and covered Kyubey's entire foreleg.

"As far as we've been able to determine, jenomite violates conservation laws, producing matter and energy from nothing as it grows," I elaborated.

"That is interesting," agreed Kyubey as the crystals began to cover his chest. "If you're right, they might be viable as a secondary power source for combating entropy."

"Secondary source?" asked Sloth. "You're not contracting magical girls again, are you?"

"No," said Kyubey in that same cheerful voice. "As we said before, human emotions are too dangerous and unpredictable. However, the grief cubes we collect from the existing magical girls represent an energy source millions of times more rich than this crystal is likely to be able to produce. On the plus side, we should be able to keep using jenomite after all the existing magical girls die."

At this point, Kyubey was fully encased in the green crystal and a second Incubator arrived to look over the crystal.

"Was it necessary to do that to one of my terminals?" asked Kyubey in the same chirpy, cheerful tone he always used. "You know I have plenty of spares, so it doesn't really hurt me. It's just wasteful."

"I know how much you hate waste," said Sloth. "It's the closest thing I can do to hurting you. I wanted that little emotional satisfaction as a precondition to helping you by showing you the jenomite. It's petty, but I'm okay with that."

"I expect to see a sky filled with stars made of burning candy the next time I come to this world," I said before clapping my hands and causing our party to vanish into the concealing array and enter the Gate.

When we'd passed through and were all once again standing in the courtyard of one of the Air Temples, it was safe to talk about what happened.

"It's hard to believe something that small and cute is as powerful or dangerous as you say it is," said Jinora. "I mean, I believe you, but it's weird."

"That's part of how it tricks people," said Sloth. "If something like that ever visits this world, make sure people aren't fooled."

At that point, a boy around Jinora's age wearing Air Nomad clothes emerged from the temple. I didn't recognize him.

"Who are you?" asked the boy.

"I'm Jinora," she replied. "These are my friends from another world. Who are you?"

"My name is Kai," said the boy. "Jinora, your dad told me you left to study magic."

"That's right," she said, drawing her wand and producing a small shower of green sparks.

Kai looked unimpressed. "You don't expect me to believe that's actually magic, do you? I've seen street performers do better than that."

"Street performers?" demanded Jinora affronted. "Can a street performer do this?" Pointing her wand directly at Kai, Jinora called out an incantation and turned him into a toad.

"I think you made your point," I said, snapping my fingers and untransfiguring Kai.

Kai showed no sign of being upset, saying, "Okay, that was impressive. How did you do that?"

"Magic," said Jinora in a tone that made it clear she was stating the obvious.

"So, what's your story?" I asked. "You aren't one of the Air Acolytes I granted bending to."

"Nah, I got my air bending from harmonic convergence," said Kai. "The Earth Queen kidnapped a bunch of us, took us away from our families, and forced us into her army. Tenzin and Avatar Korra rescued us and offered us sanctuary at the air temples."

"Speaking of Tenzin, is he here?" asked Sloth. "I'm sure he's going to want to greet Jinora."

"Right, I'll go get him," said Kai running off.

* * *

The family reunion was a happy one. I was able to proudly report that thanks to Jinora blatantly abusing her powers, we expected her to conclude her studies with us in the next semester. I hoped Jinora's demonstration would help motivate the Assembly to authorize and regulate some of our speed teaching options.

It was a simple matter to charter an air ship to get Winry to the Fire Nation. Tenzin offered to let Sloth, Loki, and I stay at the air temples again, which we accepted. Despite the warm welcome, Sloth and I largely kept to ourselves. This trip was to give Jinora and her family time together, and we didn't want to intrude.

We were available if anyone had questions, which was why Pemma was able to come to us on the third day.

"Blood bending?" asked Pemma. "That's really on the list of things you're planning to teach Jinora next semester?"

"That's right," I said. "Blood bending isn't illegal in Amestris, and in the interests of providing a thorough education, we offer training in a number of subjects that are taboo on their native worlds."

"She's already been taught about horcruxes, how the hogyoku, Oken, and Philosopher's Stone are made, and how to perform human transmutation," said Sloth. "Just because she has the knowledge doesn't mean she has to use it."

"Even so..." began Pemma.

"There's one application of blood bending I expect you'll be grateful she knows," I said. "It takes knowledge of blood bending to break another blood bender's hold on you."

"No one's forced to study subjects they aren't comfortable with," said Sloth. "If Jinora doesn't want to take this class, she doesn't have to. But we'd really rather it be Jinora's decision."

"You don't see anything wrong with blood bending, do you?" confirmed Pemma.

"Like any power, it can be used for good or bad ends," I said. "Still less evil than love potions."

* * *

When Jinora returned to school, she had permission from her family to study anything we were willing to teach her. She mastered the bending sub skills, lava, metal, lightning, healing, blood, and energy bending over the course of her remaining few months with us. She'd gotten no further with her zanjutsu than shikai, and no further in her hollowfication than what she could do with just her mask. She was a ways away from confronting her inner hollow for resureccion. Her quincy abilities had been fully mastered thanks to her continuing abuse of Book of the End.

Jinora was the one who led us through the Gate on her return trip to her world after she passed her exams. Sloth, Loki, and I came along to reaffirm our congratulations and answer any final questions for her family. When we arrived, we learned Avatar Korra was waiting for us.

"What can we do for you?" I asked as Sloth, Loki, and I stepped into the meeting room where Korra was waiting with some White Lotus guards.

"From what I've heard, we won't be seeing you again for a while," said Korra.

"We've taught Jinora everything we know and she has the tools to teach others," I said.

"I could use an outside prospective on something before you go," said Korra gesturing to the chairs.

"Of course," said Sloth as we sat down.

"It's the Earth Queen," said Korra. "She's been gearing up for a war with the United Republic. I want to keep the war from happening, but I don't see a way to do it without going and attacking the queen myself."

"International diplomacy isn't something we have much experience with," I admitted.

"Ten thousand years of past lives doing almost nothing but international diplomacy are being a lot less helpful than you'd expect," said Korra with a sigh. "The United Republic was the compromise Aang used to resolve the issue of Fire Nation colonies established early on in the hundred year war that couldn't be peacefully reintegrated into the Earth Kingdom thanks to how long it had been and how deep the roots people there had put down. The queen's father agreed to the compromise, and the Fire Nation has treaty obligations to protect the Republic if the Earth Kingdom tries to renege."

"What have your past lives been suggesting?" asked Sloth.

"A lot of them think I should just kill the Earth Queen and warn her successor not to step out of line," said Korra. "Aang understands I don't want to do that, especially when she hasn't made the first move on her invasion, but he doesn't know how to stop this any more than I do. He discredited Fire Lord Ozai by beating him in a fight and taking his bending, but the Earth Queen's an old woman who was never a bender to begin with."

"How far are you willing to go to accommodate her?" asked Sloth.

"What do you mean?" asked Korra.

"You could raise new lands out of the ocean as payment for the lands Aang took for the Republic," suggested Sloth.

"If I could trust that to be the end of it, I'd got for that in a heartbeat," said Korra. "The real problem is I don't think I could trust any deal she makes. She's put too much time and money into getting ready for this war."

"Ask Jinora about something called the Unbreakable Vow," I suggested. "It's a nasty bit of magic ideally suited to sealing agreements between parties that don't trust each other."

"What's it do?" asked Korra.

"Anyone who breaks an agreement sealed with an Unbreakable Vow dies," I said.

"So, she orders the invasion anyway and she drops dead?" confirmed Korra.

"And you give her one square foot less land than you agreed to, you drop dead," replied Sloth.

"That might work," said Korra.

"It is still a death threat," I reminded her. "It just makes the consequences more sure and immediate, and it doesn't leave any room for changing your mind or granting mercy."

"I won't take it lightly," promised Korra, "but it does open up options I didn't think I had. Thank you."

"You're welcome," said Sloth.

"So, where are you three off to next?" asked Korra, changing the subject and offering us a genuine smile.

"We have no idea," I said, returning her smile. "When we leave this world, it's back to exploring."

"We got everything ready before we set out with Jinora," said Sloth.

"I hope you'll come back and visit us soon," said Korra. "If I have anything to say about it, the world will still be at peace when you come back."

After our meeting with Korra, we shared a few words with Tenzin and his family before everything that needed to be said was said. With Korra and the family waving goodbye, I clapped my hands and Sloth, Loki, and I vanished into the Gate.

* * *

Author's comments:  
The Avatar's task of maintaining the balance is a never ending one. While our travelers from another world have finished their time here, there will be no shortage of adventures for Korra to experience. Jinora will have quite a task ahead of her, helping Korra master her new abilities, spreading the knowledge she's obtained, and making decisions about how that knowledge is distributed that will have an impact on the world for generations. Fortunately, she's up to the challenge.


End file.
